The Demigod's Guide to Housing Werewolves
by captainIamBatfan
Summary: When Percy and Annabeth stumble upon a werewolf alpha and his coyote-shifter wife, they have no choice but to invite them into Camp Half Blood. Things get out of hand fast, and it's clear that these newcomers will either save the camp or destroy everyone. What could possibly go wrong? Rated M for adult themes later in the story.
1. I Run Into the Only Wolf in New York

**A/N: As always, thank you for reading. This is an AU where the Percy Jackson and Mercy Thompson storylines are in the same world. This is primarily a PJ fanfic, so if you aren't familiar with the MT series, you'll still know what's going on. Story takes place just after the events of the Heroes of Olympus series, and Leo is still presumed dead. The whole spiel about this not being my original story- except for the OC's- still applies.**

* * *

 **Percy**

As a demigod, I thought I'd seen it all. In the past my friends and I have gone on some crazy adventures, from the top of Olympus to the deepest pit of the Underworld. I've battled countless dangers, and would have had my butt handed to me a couple of times if it hadn't been for luck. Okay, and sometimes Annabeth. Point is, I've seen some stuff. But I have to say, a group of werewolves running around New York was something new. And not the kind like Lupa the she-wolf, or the hairy dude Lycaon either. These guys were closer to Hollywood's idea, silver allergies and everything. Well, almost everything.

Annabeth and I were walking along the path that led to New York City Hall just before noon. She loves the architecture of the place, and was telling me all about structural supports, ways to improve the overall design, and two guys named Brush and Mandarin.

"McComb and Mangin," Annabeth corrected.  
"Yeah, sure."  
She gestured to the building as we passed. "They built the modern version, but this isn't the first City Hall. The original was made by the Dutch in the 1600's."

"Fascinating," I said, squinting my eyes to get a better view. To me, it just looked like any old building. Annabeth took my hand, and I let her tell me all about how many times City Hall was made and remade, and the locations and histories of each place. Personally, architecture was right there next to watching paint dry on my list of things that interest me. But Annabeth was obsessed with it. And when she got going, here grey eyes lit up and she talked as if she were showing off her favorite toy. It was pretty cute. Plus, this was the last summer we had until we moved to New Rome together for college, and I was going to enjoy every minute of being in New York while I could. So I squeezed her hand and watched her get all excited over a couple dead guys and their centuries-old group project, happy to just be walking by her side.

No monsters. No apocalypse. Just me, Annabeth, and some pizza we were going to get later. I didn't know she had asked me a question until I saw she was staring at me, waiting for my answer. I tried to stop grinning like an idiot.

"Say what?"  
Annabeth gave me her delux _gods, Percy, I can't take you_ anywhere _without you zoning out_ look. "I asked if you think we should stop by and say hello to your mom."  
My smile faded.

Throughout our last ordeal with yet another apocalypse, I never got to talk to my mom and tell her I was okay. The first time around, she was up-to-speed with everything, but there was a period where my mom didn't know where I was or if I was even alive. It really got to her. Of course, I came to visit as soon as I could, and when she saw me she burst into tears and gave me the whole if-you-ever-save-the-world-without-calling-me-again-I'll-ground-you-till-you're-fifty lecture. It was a fun night. We've talked a few times since then, had some diners with my stepdad Paul, but I wasn't in the mood for another talk like that. She could be unbearable sometimes, in that mom kind of way. Annabeth, being the usual mind-reading, all-knowing super being that the children of Athena are, noticed the look on my face and laughed.

"She's your mom, Percy. Sally loves you- and being a demigod isn't easy."  
I ran my fingers through my already messed up hair. The wind kept blowing it in my eyes. "Yeah, I know," I said.

I loved my mom more than anything. She had sacrificed so much for me to be safe, even if it meant working a dead-end job married to a smelly, abusive scumbag for years. Her only child was a demigod, and instead of caving like a lot of first-time parents who have normal kids, she went above and beyond for me. Every time I got kicked out of a school, she found a new one. A demon bull from the Underworld comes after us? She gets me to safety and sacrifices herself. My mom put up with a lot because of my being a demigod, she was entitled to some maternal rants here and there. And she didn't complain too often.

I stopped in my tracks. Annabeth turned, lifting her brow as a silent question.  
I kept staring at her. "Since when are you on a first-name basis with my mom?"  
The look I got was something between smug and devious.  
"Since a certain demigod vanished without a trace, and left us to sit at home wondering what happened to him."

Fair enough.

She waited for me to catch up to her, but it wasn't long before our competitive sides got the better of us. Soon it turned into a race to the finish line, but in downtown New York in the middle of the day, that can be kind of difficult. We were halfway to my favorite pizzeria, and I was just about to claim my victory as best crowd-dodging champion of all-time, when something short ran into me with an "Oof!"

I got a flash of pink hair and shiny earrings before the person disappeared. Someone behind me apologized, so I said "It's cool" and continued on like nothing happened. By the time Annabeth doubled back to make sure I didn't fall into traffic, I forgot about it.  
"You okay?" she asked.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've had much worse scrapes than walking into a pixie-girl."  
Annabeth rolled her eyes, taking my hand again.  
"Come on, Seaweed Brain," she said with a laugh. She hauled me off like a sack of potatoes. "Let's go get something to eat."

* * *

 **Mercy**

"What is it?"

I looked up at my husband. "I don't know- I've never caught a scent like that."

Adam Hauptman lifted his head, inhaling through the nose. Judging by the look on his face, he could smell it to. Today he wore a tight black shirt and a pair of jeans that accented every muscle on him. Being twenty-eight for all of time looks good, but being a ripped twenty-eight-year-old with a body like that should be illegal. Though I'm pretty sure he chose this particular getup as revenge for the top I wore yesterday. Nothing too flashy, but when I stumbled into a stranger he got quite a show. Werewolves can be pretty territorial, and when a guy looks at their mate the way that passerby did me, Adam all but ripped his throat out.

"Mercy."

Five minutes ago, Adam was enjoying every second of watching me squirm. Since the moment he stepped out of the hotel bathroom, he made an effort to stay within my line of sight. It was hard to focus. He took my chin between his thumb and forefinger, lifting my face so that I would have no choice but to meet his stare. "Tell me what you smelled."

I'm no werewolf, but as a coyote shifter, my nose can be pretty useful. And whatever it was that we picked up, Adam was having as much trouble with it as I was. It would take both of our noses to figure this out. I blinked, hard. "There was this scent, like sea breeze. Books. And-something else. Something...golden." Adam looked at me. "Golden?" His voice was calm, which told me he was on-edge. Werewolves are weird like that. I shrugged. "That's the best I could do. If I had to put a name to it, 'golden' would be my pick." He let go of my face to scratch his chin.

"Anything in your Indian stories about creatures that smell like water and...gold?"

I crossed my arms. "Let me go to yonder wigwam and consult Great Spirit." As I spoke, I was sure to keep my eyes from meeting his, so he would know I wasn't challenging him. If you want to die a painful death, look a werewolf in the eye and yell. Good thing my husband had a lot of self-control. Adam took a moment to consider while Jesse, his teenage daughter from his first marriage, looked around to see why we had stopped. This week she sported bright pink tresses to offset the dangling earrings she just bought. She dyed her hair as often as she could, both to get her dad's attention and to accommodate her rebellious personality. Jesse rubbed her shoulder. "You think it was him?" she asked.

"Who," said Adam mid-thought.  
"The guy I ran into back there."

"You ran into a guy?" asked Gabriel as he caught up to us. Adam stiffened when he came to a stop beside his daughter. Bringing Jesse' boyfriend along on vacation wasn't something Adam wanted to do, but I persuaded him to reconsider (with the help of the lingerie I bought before we left). Gabriel Sandoval comes from a large family, the only man in the house since his father died. He has to work twice as hard as most kids to make sure his sisters are all fed and clothed. The kid deserved a break. Of course, I had to swap places at the hotel and sleep in the same room with Jesse while Adam bunked with Gabriel, but it was worth it. We had been here three days, and so far no one had died. Yet.

"Take the overly-protective-boyfriend act down a couple notches," Jesse said with a roll of her eyes. She always chided Gabriel whenever he expressed even a little concern for her. As daughter of the Columbia Basin Pack's Alpha, she had enough babysitters. But I knew she loved it when Gabriel looked at her like that, as if she was the center of gravity. "There was this guy I bumped into, it's not a big deal." Gabriel frowned, so she added "He was with a blonde girl."

That lifted his spirits.  
"Oh, okay." He looked from Jesse to me to Adam, whose gaze he'd been avoiding since we'd arrived. "So what's wrong?"

Gabriel was a smart kid. If the situation were different, he could have gone to a better college, gotten a good job, and lived in comfort for the rest of his life. But instead he wore old t-shirts, ratty jeans, and too-big shoes. His hands stained with grease from the time he's spent helping me in my car shop. Despite the outward appearance, he knew a thing or two. He knew something wasn't right- and this was a human kid living among a werewolf pack. The years with us had made him pretty receptive.

"Adam and I smelled something," I said, "Something inhuman."  
Gabriel's brows lifted. "Is it dangerous?"  
"We don't know yet," answered Adam with a growl.

Jesse shifted her weight from one foot to the other, paying no mind to Gabriel's hand against her back. I looked around again, shading my eyes from the heat of the sun, just in time to see a pair of bright orange shirts race into a local pizza shop. It was the kid who ran into Jesse. I started forward. "Follow me."  
Without waiting to see if they'd listen, I made my way across the street. Dodging so many pedestrians and cars was still new, but I was starting to get the hang of it. Adam matched my pace without effort. It would be a lot easier to track the scent if I could shift, but in order to do so I'd have to strip down to nothing. And as comfortable as I was being nude (something you get used to when you're a coyote shifter who's lived among wolves your whole life), it would warrant a few looks and intervention from law enforcement. In the end, my human nose was what I had to work with.

When we got to the front entrance my husband stopped beside me, followed by Jesse and Gabriel. I could see the skeptical look Adam was giving me in the door's reflection and stared back at him without wavering. Unlike most people, I knew when to hold my ground against a wolf. He narrowed his eyes. "Want to tell me what your plan is?"

"I'll clue you in when I figure it out myself."  
"Mercy-"  
But I wasn't listening. We didn't have time to sit her and debate- we had to see what this thing was, and if it was dangerous. I opened the door and walked into a blast of cool air, greeted with the scent of fresh food.

* * *

 **Percy**

I was halfway through my large pepperoni and bacon pizza with extra olives when Annabeth shot me a look across the table. It wasn't the kind she usually gave me, like when I say something stupid or get food on my shirt. I looked down at myself just in case, but I was clean.

"Percy."

She sounded urgent. Like we-need-to-go- _now_ urgent. I glanced from my t-shirt to her, but she wasn't looking at me anymore. Her eyes were focused on something behind me. I nodded once. Something was in here with us. We both stood, looking like a normal couple about to go off to our next destination. The Mist did a good job of hiding monsters, but that didn't mean it would hide a couple tenagers freaking out and running for the door. I tucked a couple bills under my plate as Annabeth gathered up her jacket. Between Riptide in my pocket and her fighting knife and baseball cap, which had started working again after she had found the Athena Parthenos, we were in pretty good shape. It had been a few days since our last battle, so we were expecting something to happen. Something always does. But the fact that our date was interrupted had me in a bad mood.

I don't get to spend much time alone with Annabeth, and after I was dropped into New Rome with nothing but her name in my memory bank, we didn't want to take any more chances. We've spent more time together, sure- in between sword training, configuring Daedalus' laptop, and making sure new arrivals get to camp safely before any nasties could take them out. I love my friends to Olympus and back, but they never leave us alone. So we improvise. Going out and sitting in an air bubble at the bottom of the lake, taking a short field trip outside of camp. Today was our one shot at having complete privacy, and it was over before it started.

The bell on the door jingled as we left, and when we were about five feet away it went off a second time. No denying it now; we were being followed.  
"Come on," said Annabeth, "we'll catch a taxi for camp and ditch them in traffic."  
I gritted my teeth. "How many we talking here?"  
"Four. One of them, a hispanic-looking boy, kept staring. I didn't think anything of it until his friend's eyes started turning gold. Other than that, they look completely normal."  
"Which means they must be dangerous."

Annabeth nodded, still looking straight ahead. "My thoughts exactly."

We came to the end of the street and had to wait for traffic to come to a stop. I did a slow turn, looking here and there like a tourist taking in the scenery. When I made a full three-sixty, Annabeth waited to my right. "Pixie girl," I said under my breath.  
"What?"  
"That girl I bumped into, just before we ate. She's with them."

For a moment, Annabeth didn't say anything. I could almost see the gears turning as she sorted through our options. If there was any way we could get out of this with as little damage as possible, Annabeth could figure it out. Not only is she a child of Athena, but she's the only child of Athena who could make it past all kinds of obstacles and get to the giant statue of her mother. I trusted her with my life. We stood there for a couple minutes- New York traffic waits for no one- not even a couple of demigods on the run from monsters. Pressing her thumb and finger to her lips, Annabeth let out a shrill whistle that was impressive for someone who wasn't a local. Then again, she had a way with studying up on places, knowing the ins and outs of the area as well as anyone born there. Not to mention the time she's spent at camp. Right on queue, a taxi pulled up, and she took me by the collar of my shirt and dragged me inside.

Annabeth gave the guy directions to the road just outside of camp boundaries, and the driver turned in his seat. "You sure you want to go that far, girl?"

Annabeth paid him double what would have been owed. That shut him up right away. It also saved us some time, because the second we were clear, the taxi driver put the pedal to the floor. I almost fell out of my seat before I could get strapped in. Annabeth stumbled backwards, her blonde hair falling in her eyes. She looked like a blonde Cousin Itt. I would've laughed if we weren't on the run- again. No rest for the awesome.

"Percy," she said in a neutral tone, "when we get out, have your pen ready."  
I nodded. "Got your baseball hat?"

She pulled it out and showed it to me. We must have sounded crazy, because I could see the driver's eyes in the rearview. He was watching us with interest until someone cut him off. For the next fifteen minutes or so, we sat in silence as streets and buildings flew by- every now and then Annabeth would tell me random facts about something, which I forgot the second she finished- and the cars on the road became more and more scarce.

One thing I always liked about Camp Half-Blood: there wasn't ever a traffic jam nearby. The paved roads turned to gravel, then dirt, which took a bit longer for the old taxi to drive on, but it did the job. We got out, assured the man that we'd be okay, and watched the trail of dust pick up as he sped off. I turned to Annabeth. Riptide was already in my hand, and when I uncapped it, the blade sprang from pen to sword in one fluid motion. "Let's rock and roll."

We hadn't been by ourselves for two seconds when something roared behind us. Annabeth's eyebrows furrowed. "That's impossible," she said, "we left them back in the city." She paused. "Unless-"  
I faced the source of the noise, sword-pen in hand. "It must have smelled us when we got out of the car." As if in answer, a huge wave of stink hit me like a ton of bricks. At least the other guys had the decency to shower before they found us. With a quick alteration of plans, Annabeth and I faced the bushes that began to move.

* * *

 **Mercy**

"What do we do now?"

The second the taxi drove off, I knew we hit a dead end. There were about five hundred taxi's on this one strip of road, and trying to single one out with nothing but Adam and my human noses was impossible. "We have to find them," I said. "There's no telling what they might do. Jesse- you and Gabriel need to go back. Do some shopping, go to the hotel-"

"Absolutely not," barked Adam. "Those two are not going back to a hotel room by themselves."  
Gabriel flushed, and Jesse stomped her foot. "Dad!"  
"No," he said again.  
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "We can't bring them with us- we don't know anything about those kids."  
Adam looked like he was about to argue, so Jesse cut in. "Nothing's going to happen, Dad. You can trust us- but if you stay and fight it out, you're going to lose them."  
With a great deal of effort, Adam remained calm. He pointed a finger at Jesse. "You call me every hour and give me updates. And you will do well to remember that there are surveillance cameras in those rooms that I hooked up to my phone."

Jesse rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. Just get going already."  
I took his hand and gave it a light tug. "We need to shift so it's easier to find their scent."  
Adam shook his head. "Only you shift. It takes me too long, and a full-grown werewolf running about in broad daylight will draw attention."  
"Okay."

Adam passed off his hotel key to Jesse, and with a "Don't get yourself killed," she was off with Gabriel in tow. Adam took something from his backpack (leave it to him to bring a crapload of things around town while on vacation) and I frowned.  
"You still have that old thing?"  
He shrugged, holding up the leash so that I could see. "I saved it in case we'd have to use it again. Looks like my suspicions have been confirmed."  
"Always prepared, aren't we."  
"One of us has to be ready for anything."

The harness was frayed from the time I spent running around neighborhoods in coyote form disguised as a domestic pet, but it would do. Seeing someone walking their dog- or what looked like a dog- on a leash wouldn't cause as much alarm as a wild animal prowling the streets. I ran with him into the nearest restaurant, and the waiter at the front approached to ask how many were in our group. I feigned embarrassment and told him I just needed to use the restroom. He directed me with a hand, looking annoyed at the Native American woman who dared to use the toilet, and I walked into the ladies room. So far, New Yorkers seemed to be every bit as territorial as werewolves. I undressed in one of the stalls on the end, folding my clothes and stacking them to the side. When a werewolf shifts, it can take up to fifteen minutes for the bones to expand and adjust. It's a painful process, and I've been told it's something akin to the pains a woman has in childbirth. For a coyote shifter, it only takes a second to change. Quick and painless- unless you're caught in your clothes and can't get out of them. Hence the stripping.

One minute I was human and the next a sandy-furred coyote stood in my place. I tried my best not to inhale through my nose- which could pick up on the contents of the toilets from the past few hours- and gathered my belongings in my mouth. Thankfully Adam was right outside, and he took them from me and put them in his pack before anyone noticed. In the same moment, the harness was wrapped around my torso, the collar fastened, and we were out the door before the waiter could come back and see us.

I trotted to the place where we last saw those kids get into the cab. The scent was very faint- it was a wonder that it was still there with so many people walking around- but I was able to find it within a few minutes. I looked up at Adam for a brief moment and went back to tracking. They got in a cab, but the sea-breeze-and-book scent was still in the air. We walked along without much disruption, until a man approached us from behind.

"You look like you could use some directions," he said, observing the way I veered this way and that to catch onto the trail. I didn't bother looking up at him- Adam could fend off a random passerby on his own. The New-Yorker continued. "Not a good part of town to be lost in."

I sniffed once. The scent continued from here, but there was nothing else that smelled otherworldly to me. Odds are whatever was beyond this point wasn't anything a werewolf and coyote shifter couldn't face. Where we are from, everyone knows about Adam. Some of the locals treat him like a hero, but others aren't so friendly. Werewolves had just come out to the public a few years ago, and nowadays you could go to your local Wal-Mart and buy silver bullets in bulk. I guess there must not be too many wolves in New York, because this guy had no clue what was in front of him. The man looked Adam up and down, sizing him up to see how long he'd last. If he wasn't careful, he could warrant an attack. But Adam had pretty good control over his wolf, and he just gave the guy a "We're fine, thank you" and carried on.

"You don't want to go that way," the stranger insisted, "That'll take you out of the city."

I pulled against my harness to tell Adam that's exactly where we wanted to go. He got the message.

"We'll find our way back," said Adam. He turned away from the guy before we could be further delayed, but he added "Thank you." The stranger cocked his head as we continued on, but he didn't say anything else. Pretty soon, we were alone again.

For such a dangerous part of town, this place looked pretty normal. Smelled normal, too. At one point a cat crawled out from behind a dumpster. It took one look at me, hissed, and ran. Someone was out on their apartment balcony hanging clothes. Another walked across the street with their earbuds in. They were listening to rap music. The road turned into a dirt path as we continued, the sun bearing down at our backs. We must have walked for a half hour before anything happened. I was just about to tell Adam that we were getting close, but then the air changed. I lifted my nose and sniffed. Adam did the same. Something rustled in the bushes nearby, and he let out a growl that wouldn't be possible for a human to make. He pulled the harness off me, and with a quick shake I prepared myself to charge.

The bushes grew still. In a sudden burst of movement, a dark-haired boy with an orange t-shirt that had _Camp Half-Blood_ written in bold letters across his chest barreled out, coming to a skidding halt in front of us. In his hand was a bronze sword.


	2. Things Get Even Weirder

**Mercy**

The boy was lucky Adam didn't tear him to pieces. It was hard enough for a werewolf to control themselves during everyday conversation, but when someone comes running at them, weapon drawn and looking for a fight, all bets were off. But Adam was a war veteran. He had served in Vietnam when he was turned, and he knew all about hand-to-hand combat. The second this kid saw us, he stopped his advance. The look on his face told me that if we didn't attack him, he wouldn't make the first blow. There was a line of blood running down the side of his face.

"You're the one who followed us from downtown," he said.  
There was no denying it, so Adam had to agree.  
The boy stood there, calculating. "There were four of you." He glanced at me. "And you didn't have a dog when we-"

A cry of outrage came from behind him. The girl emerged from the shrubs with her back to us, hunched over with a knife in her hand. Her orange t-shirt was littered with dirt stains. There were leaves hanging from her blonde curls. When she looked back, her eyes scanned us over like she already knew our weak points. Following her was the creature I had been smelling. Adam's lip curled. "What the hell is _that_?"

The thing was huge. It had the body of a bull and the head of a wild boar. On its back were green scales like a fish. I have a way of sensing magic, and the aura this creature was emanating was very old and very strong. The boy stared at Adam like he was a science experiment gone wrong. His wide eyes were so green, they almost glowed. "You mean- you can see it?"

Being an alpha, Adam was never one to be questioned. Especially if the question had an obvious answer. "Of course I can! I'd have to be blind _and_ deaf to miss that- that whatever-it-is."  
"It's a Catoblepas," the girl said, "an ancient Greek monster." She continued to stare Adam and me, but addressed her companion. "They can see through the Mist?"  
The boy shrugged. "Looks like it."

I had no clue what either of them were talking about. My husband glanced from the creature to the boy, who was still facing us with his weapon held tight in his palm. Adam cocked his head toward the beast. "You with this guy?"

"No- you?"  
"No."  
The boy straightened. "Well then, if you'll excuse me-"

He used his free hand to pull the girl behind him. Then he wheeled around, holding up his sword- made of some kind of bronze, I think, that looked like it belonged in a museum- and charged the beast. Before Adam could talk the kid down, he had dodged the bull's first advance and swung the blade in a wide arc. My useless history degree finally came into play as my brain processed the weapon. Wait. That thing _does_ belong in a museum.

"Percy! On your left!"

The girl dove to the side, then was on top of the bull-like thing with her knife. When my mother was sixteen, she went to a rodeo where she met my dad- a bull-riding Indian named Joe Old Coyote. They'd both be impressed with this girl's riding skills. She stabilized herself by locking her legs on each side of the beast as it bucked. Its massive head was too heavy to be lifted more than a few inches off the ground. All I could think was _you go, girl._ She stabbed it through the scales, and the monster let out a guttural roar that shook the earth. It was a wonder no one had heard the battle and come to investigate.

Adam and I both stood there gaping as the pair of teenagers fought a monster bull from hell. This thing was ancient, and they were taking it down like it was nothing. Once or twice they would call out directions to one another- "It's coming around!" "Watch the head, watch the head!"- like they did it for a living. When I thought I'd seen it all, the dark-haired boy sliced through the creature with one easy swing, and then "poof". The beast vanished into dust. His friend fell into the dirt and rolled onto her feet.

The boy helped her from the ground and wiped the remains of the creature off her clothes. It wasn't an easy job. But aside from the dirt, neither of them looked too banged up.  
"Thanks a lot, Seaweed Brain," she said. I don't get how _seaweed brain_ could be an effective insult, but the guy acted like it wasn't anything new.  
"My bad," he said, continuing to pat the dirt away. Almost as an afterthought he added "Not how I planned on our date going."  
"Yeah, well, what else is new?"

The boy shot Adam a look that said _this guy is new to me_.

"Come on," said the girl, ignoring her clothes and pulling him by the front of his shirt. The thing was gone, but she was still on high alert. She held her knife at the ready. I sniffed the air and whined to Adam; something else was out there, and it was coming this way. Whatever that thing was they had killed, it had a friend. I didn't have to wait long for my suspicions to be proven: another roar sounded about a mile off. This one was deeper in pitch, and wasn't something they taught school kids while playing a rousing game of "What does the animal say?". I didn't want to know what kind of creature made a sound like that.

"It must have heard the Catoblepas attack," the girl said. She started making off into the woods, but the boy stayed behind. "What about him?"  
The girl's voice came from somewhere in the trees. "There's no time- we have to get out of here, now."  
"We can't just leave him and his dog out here."  
The girl reappeared, looking more than a bit put off. "Percy. He can't go with us. It's against the rules."

The boy spread his arms out as if in welcome of the danger. His sword looked like an extension of his arm. "It's not like we haven't broken the rules a dozen times by now." He turned to Adam. "Come with us. You'll be safe enough where we're headed."

Adam didn't move. "And where is that?"  
They boy had a grim looked on his face. "To the only place that monsters can't enter."  
The roaring grew louder. Adam gave me a look and said "What choice do we have?"

* * *

 **Percy**

"Impressive bull-fighting back there," said the stranger. He leaned against a tree while his dog sniffed some plants. We had to stop for a moment while Annabeth figured out our location- wouldn't take long, I promised the guy. Our latest monster was still tailing us, but it wasn't close enough to see. I picked dirt off my shoe with the tip of my sword. "Yeah, well. Not the first time I've had to do it."

The stranger tilted his head. "You've fought that thing before?"

"Not that one. The last guy was bigger, and more stubborn. Had to kill him twice before he stayed down." The dude gave me a look that screamed "get this guy to a mental ward". I knew I'd get a kick out of telling him even half of what I've been through- even if he never believed a word of it. Then again, _I_ had a hard time coming to terms with some of my adventures. I still wasn't ready to talk about what happened in Tartarus to anyone except Annabeth, despite Jason asking me from time to time. There are some places that mortals are never meant to be, and that was one of them. I changed the subject.

"Why did you follow us here?"

Annabeth appeared among the shrubs like a woodland nymph and directed us forward. The guy ducked under a branch as we walked in a line. I took up the rear, partially to keep an eye out for whatever nasty may pop out and partially to make sure this guy wouldn't pull anything. It was like a much less cheerful version of follow-the-leader. "We weren't sure if you two were dangerous or not," he said, "We picked up on your scent and- well, it's nothing I've ever smelled before."

"We smell?" I sniffed my shirt. A little sweaty, for sure, but nothing out of the ordinary.  
"Speak for yourself," said Annabeth from the front of the line.  
"Hey- I'm not the one covered in monster dust."

"Not that kind of scent," the guy said, "humans have a certain smell to them. Each one is slightly varied, but they're all similar. You two, on the other hand- you smell completely different. Like seawater and books, and something else." I caught the smirk on his face when he turned to look at his pet. "Something golden."

"Golden," I said. "Makes sense."  
The guy noticed the seriousness in my tone and looked back at me like I was supposed to argue or call him crazy. I stared right back. "We're only half human- we're demigods."  
"Demigods?" The guy's voice was casual. We could have been telling him what time it was for all the surprise he was showing.  
"Yes," Annabeth sighed, "demigods- children of the Greek gods of Olympus."

Once again the guy was looking at me, and so was his dog. I don't know why it bothered me, but the look in its eyes were just a bit too focused. Like it was aware of the conversation. I ignored it and stared back at the guy. "Poseidon," I said, and jerked my head to Annabeth, "Athena."

By now I had become an expert in weird, and more than once have had to explain this to kids that enter into camp for the first time. I took a breath, about to give a short but sweet description of the god and their children, complete with cited sources and first- hand accounts. I was prepared for the laughs, the 'no way is that true' comments, and all other forms of denial. But the guy just nodded once and said "That explains a lot."

I blinked at the back of his head. "You know, when someone tells you that they're a child of an ancient being, more questions tend to come up- like the question of said person's sanity."

The guy laughed once. "Not if the someone you're talking to has already met a god."  
"For real?"  
He jerked his head down. "Primordial volcano man. Not Greek, but still a god."  
I almost tripped on the root sticking out of the ground. I'm sure if there had been a nymph living there, she would have beat me with a stick. "You mean there's more than just Greek gods?"

"Apparently."  
"Okay," said Annabeth, "Chiron is definitely going to want to speak with you."  
"Is he the one in charge?"  
She gave our new compadre a wary look. "Of the camp, yes."  
I explained before he even asked. "Camp Half Blood- it's where demigods can go to train and stuff, and be away from all the monsters out there who want to do us in."

"I see," he said.

We walked on, past trees and other subtle landmarks the campers made in recent weeks to help lost demigods find their way. One of my favorites was a pile of rocks made to look like a small-scale version of Zeus' Fist, but when Chiron wasn't around we called it Pile of Poop. The old centaur made it clear that we couldn't refer to the original as such in case Lightning Man got offended. But there was nothing mentioned about giving the miniature version that name.

"Almost there," said Annabeth as she broke off into a run. "Hurry!"

We raced up the hill that led to the front entrance. I had to avoid stepping on the dog's tail a couple times, and once apologized when I kicked the back of its hind legs. I looked over the guy's shoulder to check our progress. Just a few more feet and we'd be home free. Peleus the dragon was in his usual spot, curled around Thalia's tree and snoring away. His job was to protect the Golden Fleece that hung from the lowest trunk. He didn't take much notice of the three people and a dog running up the hill until we were right on top of him.

He opened a lazy eye at us and closed it again. Annabeth and I ran past the tree with ease, but when the guy and his pet tried, they collided with the protective barrier. He was definitely not a demigod. The force of impact knocked the man clean off his feet. I stepped forward, still behind camp lines.

"What's your name?"  
The guy pushed himself off the ground in a huff. "Why?" His dog barked at him.  
"I have to use your name for it to work."

The guy looked down at his dog, who stared back like he/she had any clue what was happening. The creature was at the bottom of the hill- I couldn't see it through the trees just yet, but I could smell it. This one was worse than the Cat-o-whatsit. The guy paused. "Adam."

"Your full name."  
His lip curled, and I was debating letting him in at all. He may just kill me. "Adam Hauptman."  
I took a breath, and risked putting everyone at camp in harm's way for the sake of a stranger. "I, Percy Jackson, give you Adam Hauptman and your dog-"  
"Mercy Thompson-Hauptman," he snapped, "She's a coyote."

"Really? Uh, okay." I cleared my throat and started over. "I, Percy Jackson, give you Adam Hauptman and you-" it was weird addressing a coyote, but talking to animals wasn't a first for me, "-Mercy Thompson-Hauptman permission to enter Camp Half-Blood."

* * *

 **Mercy**

Thunder boomed in the distance. There must have been a storm coming in. After the boy spoke, the air around us shifted and we were able to pass the invisible barrier without any trouble. The dragon at the base of the tree regarded us with golden eyes when we drew near.

"It's okay, Peleus," said the girl, "they're friends." She gave us the same inquisitive look as the dragon. "At least, I think they are." The monster at the bottom of the hill barreled toward us, and no one wanted to wait and see what it was that found us back on the road. We ran through the thickets, only slowing to a trot when the roars were much more distant. Adam brushed the leaves off of his pants. A little worse for wear, but they still made his butt look amazing. I got a good view of it as he turned to face the others.

"So what happens now?"  
The girl stepped forward. "Now we take you to the Big House and introduce you to the camp director. We'll straighten everything out then."  
Adam removed his backpack and unzipped the top. "Mercy needs to shift back before we go."  
The boy did a double take. "Shift back?"  
After a pause, Adam said "She's a walker."  
"You mean like that zombie show?"  
"What? No- a skin walker. Shape-shifter. She's a human that can shift into a coyote."

The two exchanged a look.  
"Well," said the girl, "it makes as much sense as any...okay. She can shift here."  
Adam stepped in front of me, blocking my view of them with his perky posterior. Not that I was complaining. "Will anyone see?"  
"No one will," said the boy, "We won't rat her out or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

"As grateful as I am to hear that," said Adam, "it's privacy that concerns me. When Mercy shifts back, she'll be naked." He started pulling out the clothes I had given him in the restaurant. The boy looked at the pile and realization dawned on him.  
"Oh," he said. He blushed. "Oh, okay. Um, well there's a big tree over there-"

I was gone before he could finish. It took half a second to shift, and I called for Adam to hand over my clothes. He stood watch as I dressed, always the ever vigilant husband. I don't know what the two were expecting, but when they saw me fully-dressed in human form, they seemed to be surprised.

"Hi," I said with a smile, "My name's Mercy. I'm Adam's mate-slash-wife."  
"Mercy Thompson-Hauptman," the boy finished.  
"That's right."  
"I'm Percy Jackson." He took out what looked like a pen cap and placed it on the tip of his sword. The shrank down to a normal ballpoint. He grinned at me and Adam. "Demigod stuff," he said. His friend came to stand at his side.  
"Annabeth Chase," she said with a nod. My husband returned the gesture.  
"Adam Hauptman."  
"So," said Percy, gesturing to me, "we know that you're a coyote shifter-" he pointed to Adam- "but you're not?"

"I'm a werewolf," he said. "Alpha of the Columbia Basin Pack." Annabeth's face paled. Percy narrowed his eyes at my husband.

"Lupa or Lycaon?"  
Adam and I exchanged looks. "Beg pardon?"  
"They're both wolves," Annabeth said, "though Lupa is true wolf and Lycaon is part wolf, part man. He was turned by the gods as punishment for killing his son and trying to feed him to Zeus."

Percy nodded in agreement. "Lupa is a trainer of Roman heroes- like Chiron, her Greek counterpart."

"So there's more than one demigod camp?"  
"Yep."  
"And you think we're in league with this Lycaon," I guessed. Neither of them spoke, but then again neither of them had to.  
"I don't kill innocents," said Adam, "and I don't feed people to anyone- god or otherwise. I may eat a raw bird or deer, but never humans."

Percy eyed him. "So you're not going to rip out our throats or anything?"  
"Not unless you try to do so first," I said. "Or you offend him."  
"How do you offend a werewolf?"

I considered. Werewolf politics were something I had little patience for, but I enjoyed explaining it to people- especially people who have never heard of it. I counted off the offenses on each finger as I listed them. "By calling them a pup or equally derogatory term, threatening or flirting with their mate- or staring them in the eye for too long." Percy looked a little surprised, so I gave him a wink. "It's a dominance thing."

Something in his eyes sparked. "I remember now- you can't show weakness, because that makes you look like prey, and you can't assert more authority than the higher-ups." He turned to Annabeth, who was studying us while being sure to avoid Adam's gaze. "They take that as a challenge."

I glanced at Percy. "You've had experience with werewolves?"

"Kind of," he said. "Spent some time with Lupa before visiting the Roman camp." He rounded his shoulders and faced what looked like an open field. "Anyway, let's go to the Big House before it gets dark."

My first impression of Camp Half Blood: this place is awesome. There was an open field with fresh strawberries ready to be picked. Goat-human hybrids danced along as they blew into reed pipes, and the plants responded to their music and grew. Kids ranging from ten to eighteen were scattered everywhere. Some played at a volleyball court near the center of the field. Others had sword fights- and looked they they were seriously trying to do some damage to their opponent. Some more were climbing a rock wall, complete with ropes, spikes, and lava that almost incinerated a few people. There was archery practice, track runners (with young women for instructors that looked like they were trees and plants), and chariot races. I caught Adam's eye while Percy and Annabeth took off ahead of us. Bran, the Marrok and leader of the werewolves, would want to learn about this place. We would have to contact him at some point. A few kids approached our escorts, and I could tell they were friends.

"Percy!" called a blonde boy with glasses as he ran to meet them. He clamped a hand on Percy's back. "What happened, man?"  
"Yeah," said another with a skull t-shirt, "you look like you've been through the Underworld and back." He smirked. "Again."  
"Annabeth!" A native american girl with choppy hair approached her. She gave her friend an assessing look and frowned. "You need new clothes- I'll have someone from my cabin get you any spares we can find."

That seemed to lift Annabeth's spirits. "Thanks, Piper."  
Skull Shirt looked over Percy's shoulder at Adam and I. "Who are those guys?"  
"Nico, this is Mercy and Adam Hauptman," said Annabeth, "Mercy and Adam, meet Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, Jason Grace, son of Zeus, and Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite."  
"Hey," said Nico.  
"'Sup," said Jason.

Piper did a quick scan of my features. "What tribe are you from?"  
I cocked my head at her. "Blackfeet. You?"  
"Cherokee."  
"Figures," I said, kicking the dirt with my foot, "you guys get all the attention."  
Piper snorted. "Trust me- the spotlight isn't something I like being in."

"So," said Jason, putting an arm around Piper, "why are you here, exactly?"  
"You aren't demigods," Nico observed. He stuffed his fists into the pockets of his jeans.  
"No, we're not," said Adam. When he looked down at him, Nico's cheeks flushed and he took up an interest in his shoes.

"We came across these two in the city," I said gesturing to Percy and Annabeth, The four of us retold the account of our misadventure. Jason was pretty upset to learn that Adam was a werewolf until Percy backed us up. "It's cool," he said, "he isn't like that Lycaon guy you described. As long as no one looks him in the eye for long, we're good."

"Okay," said Jason, "as long as you aren't with him…."

We were led down the hill to a big house that was painted blue. It had a wrap-around porch with white railing, and two girls were sitting outside. One had fiery hair and clothes littered with paint stains. The other was dressed in black, with purple hair, combat boots, and large headphones over her ears. She was swaying to her music. Being a coyote, my hearing is pretty good- not as good as a werewolf's, but I can pick up a phone conversation across the room without trouble. I couldn't hear the entire song, but I got the gist of the lyrics: embracing the phenomenon of being Mad Hatter crazy. Between the two of them, the red-headed girl was the only one who looked happy to see us. The other didn't seem to care.

Before we got to the porch I noticed Percy's hand was in his pocket.

"That sword- it's pretty cool."  
The pen almost fell from his hand. He caught it before it hit the ground and rotated it between his fingers. "Yeah- the first time I used it, I accidentally vaporized my math teacher."  
Without missing a beat I said "Another monster?"

Percy looked deflated. "Your husband is more fun to talk to- he's easier to confuse." I smiled at Adam, who lifted his eyebrow. When we got to the steps, Percy addressed the red-headed girl. "Hey Rachel."

She pushed herself off the doorframe and took a couple steps forward. "Newcomers?"  
"Yeah. Mercy, Adam- this is Rachel, our resident oracle of Delphi."  
Adam looked at her with interest. "You can see the future?"

"On occasion." Rachel smiled at him. The girl sitting at the top of the steps glared when she had to move for us to pass. Scoffing loud enough for us to hear, she gathered her things and plopped down across the nearest chair.  
"Don't mind her," said Rachel, "Megan's harmless."  
"Unless you really tick me off," she said from behind a book.  
Curiosity got the better of me.  
"You have a godly parent too?"

The girl lifted her chin. "Daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic and crossroads- and a whole bunch of other stuff I don't care to mention."

I felt Adam's hand on my back, pushing me forward. We left Megan to her music and entered into the Big House with Rachel close behind. Inside there were all kinds of knick knacks hanging on the walls, with dates and descriptions like " _Mark O., battle against the gorgon Stheno, 1973"_. On the wall across the room was a leopard head with it's jaws wide open in a silent roar. Taking up most of the room was a large ping pong table, and seated at the head of it was an old man in a wheelchair. A blanket was draped over his legs. Shaggy hair skimmed his shoulders, and his eyes looked like they've seen better days. The man couldn't have been more than forty-five. He looked nothing like the camp leader I had imagined- but then again, no one ever expected Bran to be dangerous until they were two seconds from being slaughtered. The man smiled when he saw Percy and Annabeth enter the room, but it faded the second Adam and I came into view.

"Chiron," said Annabeth, "We need to speak with you."


	3. We Roll Out the Welcome Wagon: Sort Of

**Mercy**

Chiron listened to our story without much expression. Once in awhile he'd tell us to continue with a gesture or nod, but he didn't seem to want to talk very much. If I had to classify him, I'd say he was the pondering type. Annabeth did most of the explaining, with Percy or Adam and I adding in some details we thought were significant enough to mention. When we finished, the old man said "I see." He wheeled himself from the table to get a closer look at us. There were laughter lines around his eyes, but there was also sadness there. Chiron addressed Adam and I. "And you are the only ones who know of this place?"

"Yes," I said, "my step-daughter and her boyfriend went back to the hotel before we followed these two-" I pointed sideways with a thumb at Percy and Annabeth. Adam growled under his breath when I mentioned Gabriel as Jesse's boyfriend. It didn't go unnoticed. The old man raised his brows.

"Is there something the matter?"  
"No," Adam said as he regained his composure. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I just need to make a call, tell them that we're fine and we-"

"No!" shouted Percy and Annabeth at the same time. My husband and I stared at them. They gaped at the horror that was Adam's cellphone. I didn't get why- I mean the price tag was enough to make me cringe, but it was a pretty cool gadget that could do more than my work computer. I thought teenagers loved phones.

"What's wrong?" I asked.  
"No cell phones," said Annabeth, holding out her hands as if to fend off an attack, "they send out a signal to every monster in the area and make it easier for them to spot us."  
Adam pressed the lock button on the top of his cell and took out the battery for good measure. "I thought this place was air-tight with security barriers."  
"We do have some protection from the outside world," said Chiron, "but the camp isn't invincible. Monsters have been known to enter."  
"I'm sorry," said Annabeth. She shook her head. "I should have checked them, Chiron. It's my fault."

"It is alright, my dear," he said, giving her hand a pat. "At any rate, Adam, you cannot use electronic devices within the borders of this camp. Technology is something we have to do without."

Adam paced from one end of the room to the other. "Is there any way we could send a message?"

"You could Iris-message them," Percy offered, "you make a rainbow with some water and toss a golden drachma in, and if Iris or her apprentice isn't too busy, they'll patch you through."

I only got half of that. After Percy repeated himself and Annabeth translated, Adam ran his fingers through his disheveled hair.  
"We need to talk with some of the wolves, as well," said Adam. "the Marrok will want to know about this place."  
Percy cocked his head sideways like a confused puppy. "Marrok?"

"He's the leader of the wolves," I said, "The ones in North America, anyway. He's kind of like a second father to me." The first was Bryan, the wolf who took me in along with his wife Evelyn when my mother found out what I was. Mom loved me, but at the time she was sixteen and didn't have any idea how to raise a coyote-human hybrid. So Bryan agreed to raise me until the time of his death. Then I was sent over to Bran and lived under the Marrok's protection until living on my own.

Chiron scratched his chin.

"Werewolves in Camp Half-Blood," he murmured.

"We don't want to harm you or the campers," said Adam. "We just want to know more about you- and you can benefit from it as well. You said you had some holes in your defenses- I could help with that."

I put a hand on his shoulder blade. "Adam works at a high-tech security place. He knows what he's doing." I caught the smirk he gave me over his shoulder, but kept my focus on the old man in the wheelchair. Rachel had been lounging on one of the chairs in the background, listening to our story with intent as she examined one of the many paint stains on her pants. Her red hair reminded me of the Disney princess Merida, but this girl looked like she could take down the other in a fight. Or paint her to death.

"I think they should stay awhile," she said to Chiron. "I can't see everything, but I have this gut feeling we'll be needing them around." Before Chiron could answer, the discussion was cut short by labored breathing and what sounded like two coconuts tapping against one another.

"Hey Percy! Annabeth! I didn't get a chance to catch up to you when- oh!"

A young man came to a stop just inside the door. Well, sort of a man. I know it's impolite to stare, but it's not every day you find yourself looking down at a couple of goat legs attached to a human torso. Horns sprouted from the top of his head among curly locks, and when he saw me and Adam, he froze. The creature clopped its hoof once, stepping back as instinct kicked in. I could smell the fear radiating from him. "You're- a goat," I said.

"This is Grover," said Percy, "best friend and satyr."

"Satyr," said Adam. He looked more confused than anything, and since his eyes weren't golden I knew we were safe- as safe as we could be, anyway. Didn't seem to convince the goat-man.

Grover looked at my husband and let out a nervous "Blah-ah-ah". He even sounded like a goat. I fought the urge to walk over and take his horns in my hands, just to see how they felt. Percy gave him the shortened version of how we came here, but it didn't seem to make him feel any better.

"Wolves," he said with a visible shiver. I almost felt bad for the poor guy- goat. Chiron turned his wheelchair around so that he was face-to-face with him.

"We must call a meeting. Grover, find the other councilors and bring them here at once." The satyr was more than happy to find an excuse to leave. A flash of reddish-brown fur, and he was gone without so much as a 'goodbye'. "You'll have to forgive Grover," said Annabeth, "he's afraid of predators."

"He's afraid of pretty much everything," said Percy.  
"No," said Rachel, "he loves food."  
Annabeth nodded. "Especially soda cans and enchiladas." The three of them laughed.

After a minute or two of small talk ("So how's that venomous spider bite treating you?" "Did you see how so-and-so demolished the Ares guy in the lava pit?") the camp councilors started filing in. There was a big girl dressed in typical biker getup, with a mean snarl that could curdle milk. Next came twin boys with brown hair and sharp features that told me they would steal my lunch money if I wasn't careful. The Native American girl we had spoken to earlier- Piper, I remembered- came soon after. And Nico and Jason were there too, followed by a tan boy with surfer-blonde hair who was standing a little too close to Skull Shirt for them to be just friends. More arrived, and the last to come was this scrawny boy who looked like he had been woken up from a deep REM cycle. They all took their places around the ping pong table. Some looked alert. Others looked confused. All of them had that same golden smell.

The scent of demigods.

Just then, a growl came from the back of the room. The leopard head that I thought was just another wall decoration was moving.

It swiveled its head every which way, daring anyone to come close enough for it to bite. Adam and I exchanged a look. Demigods, goat-men, and live taxidermy- sure, why not? No one else seemed surprised by this. Without giving it a second glance, the big girl reached into a bag tucked under the table and pulled out a raw t-bone steak the size of her head. She chucked it across the room, right into the leopard's waiting jaws. It ate with enthusiasm. "Don't ask where the food goes out," said Percy as he leaned sideways for me to hear over the others, "You don't want to know."

"Thanks for the warning," I whispered back. As I spoke, Adam came to a stop beside me to wait for the campers to arrive. He slid a hand around my lower waist in a silent declaration: I was his. Typical alpha wolf crap. If there are any males present, he goes into defensive mode. Percy didn't even notice. The last of the campers filed in, and he took his place at the ping pong table along with the others. Chiron sat at the front where everyone could see him, and Adam and I stood near the door. If we were going by Native American customs, we were in the lowest-ranking position, the visitor's spot. Chiron was seated in the place of honor. The place of leadership. He waited for everyone to sit before he started talking.

"Now then, as you all know this is the first meeting we've had since the Prophecy of Seven has been fulfilled." This was met with nods, grunts, and fists pounding against the table. Chiron held up a hand, and the campers fell silent again. "Camp Half Blood has always been a safe haven for demigods to train and make friends-" he glanced over at us "-and as of today, we have become host to a different kind of guest." He gave the shortened version of our story. As he spoke, everyone turned to gawk at the werewolf and his coyote wife.

"Hold up," said the big girl dressed in biker clothes, "you mean they're _staying_?"  
"For the time being," said Chiron. Judging by the tone in his voice, he was used to this girl throwing in her two-sense. "There is much that we can learn from them, and they us."  
"It could give us another alliance," agreed Annabeth.  
"I'm with Wise Girl on this," said Piper.

Biker Girl narrowed her eyes first at them, then us.

"My wolves and I can help you," Adam offered, "Set up a perimeter, stand watch. We're good with security." The two locked eyes, and I was sure that a brawl would happen if no one intervened. Percy must have thought so to, because he cleared his throat loud enough that she turned her wrath to him. She still addressed Adam.  
"We have gotten on just fine without help from the outside," Biker Girl snapped, "especially without werewolves. Thanks but no thanks."  
"They aren't all bad," said Jason, "you haven't met Lupa- and who knows? Maybe one day we'll need to team up with the wolves.  
"Wha- wolves?" said the sleeping kid. He lifted his head to reveal a puddle of drool where he had been napping. Biker Girl slammed her fist on the table.  
"Come on, Clovis! You're in a meeting- stay awake."  
"But I was having such a good dream..." he was snoring before he could finish. I cleared my throat.  
"Our friend will want to speak with you," I said to the old man, "learn about your camp- about your world. And I'm guessing you'd like to do the same."

Chiron nodded, his hand folded across his lap. "Yes, we would." He glanced at Biker Girl. "I am sorry, Clarisse, but we must speak with them further. This meeting isn't to debate whether or not they stay, but to inform you of their visit."

"Visitors, huh," said one of the twins. He scratched the underside of his chin. "And I suppose they'll be bunking in our cabin?"

"Oh no," said his brother. He turned to look at us. "Sorry, but we're filled to burst as it is-" then he looked to Chiron with a look that was somewhere between exhaustion and panic "-between the children of Hermes, all the newcomers pouring in, and a pack of wolves?"  
"It can't be done," said his brother.  
"It's okay," I said. Being a coyote, I was always used to travelling and learning to rough it- and Adam wasn't all that high maintenance. Aside from having to eat so much meat. "We can make do and sleep under the stars."  
"I'm afraid not," said Chiron, "the cleaning harpies will eat anyone they find out after hours- nasty things, harpies, but they're excellent cleaners."  
"Not very many stains fire can't get off," said Percy.

Annabeth shot him a look. "Wolves are a favorite of Artemis," she said to Chiron, "Maybe they could stay in cabin eight."

The other campers seemed to like the idea. Chiron considered. "Yes, that would work. Though I'd better send word to Thalia lest the hunters come for a visit." He gave us a rueful smile. "Wouldn't want them taking a pack of wolves by surprise."

Clarisse crossed her arms. "How do we know we can trust them?"  
"I say they're cool," said Percy. He lifted his chin and stared the girl down, but she wasn't backing out. Both seemed to be equally dominant. Chiron looked at Percy with renewed interest.  
"You will vouch for them?"  
Without missing a beat Percy said "Yes."

"You know," said Jason, "where I'm from, someone who vouches puts their life on the line when speaking for a newcomer." He locked eyes with me. "This isn't a game we're playing- if you guys do something, both you and Percy will have to pay."

Clarisse took out a knife and used it to pick dirt from under her nails. "So they stay and everything's good," she said, "or something happens and I get to pound all three of you to dust."  
After a moment she looked up from her handiwork to give Percy a wicked grin. "I'm in."  
"Fine," said Percy.  
"Fine," agreed Adam, "In exchange for protection and exchange of information, my wolves can enter the camp boundaries."

Chiron clapped his hands. "It has been decided. Mr. and Mrs. Hauptman will remain here while we make the arrangements. That will be all, councilors. Percy, Annabeth- since you were the ones who brought them here, I think it would be fitting that you give them a tour tomorrow and explain anything they might want to know. Annabeth, I give you my full vote of confidence. Percy- well, just follow Annabeth's lead. Now then, if I am correct it will be time to eat soon. Campers, to the dining area."

Everyone filed out of the Big House, whispering to one another about the weirdos who had just arrived. Chiron went to oversee dinner prep, and Rachel stood and left with a parting "See ya later!"

It was just the four of us again.

"Not to sound rude," said Adam low enough for only us to hear, "but why does it matter where we sleep?"  
Percy spun in his chair to face us. He pressed his fingertips together like an evil genius, hooking one leg over the other. "The gods get offended real easy. One wrong move and you're lightning dust- or worse."  
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "As eloquent of a description as that was- he's right. Gods aren't always- well, they can get pretty hot-tempered if you rub them the wrong way."  
"It's what I always loved about mythology," I said, "it's like ancient gossip, except instead of dumping a cheater, you could curse them for all time."

"Basically," said Percy. Then his features sobered. "But sometimes, people who are punished don't deserve it." He blinked away the sadness in his eyes and replaced it with casual neutrality. "So you gotta be extra careful- like not sleeping in the wrong god's cabin."

"Each cabin is made to honor a certain god or goddess," said Annabeth as she held up a finger, "and the children of said god is assigned to their godly parent's cabin. But some cabins- like Hera or Artemis'- remain empty. They didn't sire any mortal children, so their cabin is just honorary."  
"Because it would offend them if they didn't have one," guessed Adam.  
"You got it," said Percy as he got up and stretched. Scratching the side of his face, he wandered over to where the leopard head was hung.  
Adam scrubbed his face with his hands, then he looked at me in bewilderment. "And I thought you were enough of a handful."

"You're the one who married me," I quipped.

Suddenly there was a loud crash. Everyone jolted and whipped around to see Percy lying face-down on the floor with a considerable chunk missing from the seat of his pants. Just above him, the leopard chewed the bit of fabric in its mouth with a triumphant purr. In Percy's hand was another raw steak. Annabeth sheathed her knife. "Uh, Percy? What are you doing?"

Her boyfriend popped his head up from the other side of the table so that we could see his eyes. "I have... made some recent decisions that I now regret."  
With a heavy sigh, Annabeth gave Adam a sideways look. "Trust me- when it comes to handfuls, I know exactly how you feel."

The four of us entered the dining pavilion just after dark. Tables set beside each other were arranged under a roofless structure that my history degree told me was authentic to ancient Greek culture. But no one was seated. Instead, the residents had gathered around a bonfire a little ways off that shot ten feet in the air. Every camper had filled their plates from an abundance of meats and fresh fruits. The smell was intoxicating. My stomach growled in response, making Adam chuckle under his breath. We watched as one by one, campers came forward and threw a part of their meal into the flames. The thickest steak, the ripest strawberry. Some were thrown without a second thought, but other campers would nod their head in reverence and say "Hestia" or "For Hermes".

"Offerings to the gods," said Annabeth by my side. The fire made her golden hair look like it was glowing. I thought the combinations of strange food pairings would make the fire smell horrible- you don't want to know what raw meat and fruit smell like when burned together- but this was...different. That golden smell I picked up on the demigods was amplified times twenty. It carried among the campers and out through the fields. It was a combination of magic and something much more ancient and primordial than fruit.

Percy and Annabeth led us to the plates. Adam chose meat as his primary source of nutrients, which makes sense. Having so much muscle mass and burning so many calories during shifts, werewolves have to gorge on protein. I leveled my plate with a little of everything, pausing at a small pile of blue chocolate-chip cookies.

"My favorite," said Percy with the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy shop. He loaded his plate until Annabeth took his free hand and urged him on. Balancing his plate on his palm, Adam slid his hand across my lower back and guided me forward as well. I raised a brow at him. "Being a bit paranoid, aren't we?"  
He scanned over the crowd, keeping his voice so low that only a coyote could hear. "Teenage hormones. I could smell their arousal when you walked by."

I kept walking, ignoring the warmth at the base of my back. Adam was pack alpha. Werewolves are territorial by nature, but if you tried to come between the alpha and his mate, you were signing your own death warrant. The idea of being "owned" by a man was never my idea of fun, but when I realized being mate to Adam meant that I owned him as much as he did me, I started to accept my feelings for him. Knowing that we were both equals made me feel centered. If the roles were reversed, if there were a hoard of girls ogling my husband (which there have been) I would be just as defensive. So I let him keep his arm around me as we headed to the edge of the fire where our guides stood.

Annabeth plucked a chicken wing from her plate and tossed it in the heart of the fire. "Athena," she whispered.  
Percy lifted one of the many blue cookies, and with a simple "Poseidon," he followed Annabeth's lead.  
Adam and I shrugged our shoulders. I didn't know which god I should make my offering to, so I chose the biggest apple on my plate and said "To the gods."

"To the gods," said Adam as he threw his steak beside my apple. In a moment they were both sizzling to ashes. Once the offerings were made, we followed the rest of the campers to the pavilion. Some tables became crowded within moments, others remained empty save for one or two people. Looking at how the cabins and offerings went down, I'd guess seating arrangements had a certain order to them as well.

"Hey Percy," I said, "where should we sit?"

He paused for a moment or two, chewing the cookie he had started gnawing at the second he stepped away from the bonfire. "The Artemis table would be safest, since that's where you're staying." He directed with a hand to the empty table near the middle of the chaos. "I have to go to the Poseidon table, and Annabeth will be with her siblings at the Athena table. It's kind of a no-no to sit with campers from other cabins."

"Because it will offend the gods?"  
"Yep."  
Adam sighed. "Is there anything that doesn't set them off?"

Percy's smile said it all. He told us he'd catch us back at the bonfire for sing-alongs and scary stories. It appears that some aspects of being a summer camp still applied, even to demigod children who spend most of their time battling ancient monsters on behalf of the gods. I sat on one side of the table, with Adam on the opposite end. He alternated between taking massive bites of meat and staring down someone behind me. I rested my chin on my hands.

"Do you ever get tired?"

He paused from glaring at whatever poor kid drew his attention to look at me. "Of what?"  
"Being the over-protective, cross-me-and-you'll-wish-you-were-never-born alpha type."  
He took my hand. "Only when I'm with you."  
I feigned shock, letting the bit of food on my fork drop. "I am an absolute pleasure!"  
His chuckle sent a shiver up my spine. "You're something, alright."

We ate the rest of our diner, ignoring some of the looks and whispers directed our way. Word travels pretty fast, especially among the children of immortal gossips. Most of the faces were friendly enough, but everyone was sure to keep their distance from the werewolf and his coyote shifter wife. It felt like high school all over again. Percy and Annabeth's friends gave us variations of warm smiles, save for Nico who was too preoccupied arguing with the sandy-haired boy to pay us any attention. We were led back to the bonfire, whose flames started turning different colors as campers filled the seats next to the same people they sat with at diner. Annabeth explained that the height and hue of the fire changes to fit the mood of the campers. Tonight it was about seven feet and bright orange. Could have been higher, I thought, if we hadn't shown up. The campers didn't know just what to make of Adam or I, but we hadn't attacked them yet so we must not have made a huge negative impact.

The sandy-blonde boy, along with some others that looked like they could be his siblings, pulled out lyres and other instruments and led the group into song. These kids didn't sing kumbaya.

One song depicted how grandma puts on her armor, and another one involved pointing to various body parts and calling out what kind of armor goes where. Some were funnier, like _I Am My Own Great Great Great Great Grandpa_ and _This Land is Minos' Land_. In between songs they would laugh and tell ghost stories, or talk about what monsters they had to fight off this year. It was pretty cool. I melted into the background and listened as the others talked and laughed together, remembering the good times and mourning the bad. I was about to ask who this guy named Beckendorf was when a horn sounded some distance off.

"That's the signal for bed," Annabeth explained. "The harpies will be out soon."

In confirmation of her statement, the others stood from their places, eating the last of their roasted marshmallows and chucking the sticks into the dying fire. It was too dark to see much in front of me. I had no clue where I was going, and had to rely on Adam's memory and Percy's knowledge of the camp to find our way to our sleeping arrangements in cabin eight. Artemis' cabin. I didn't get a good look at it, and was only aware of Percy saying goodnight and bumping into Adam once or twice as we felt around the dark room. Piper had dropped off some sleeping bags earlier, Percy told us. I'd thank her in the morning. Other than the threat of monsters, this felt like regular camping. Crickets chirped under the stars outside. Adam's shoes made deep thunking sounds on the wooden floor as he laid our bed out, and it was all I could do not to fall over and sleep right there. "Oh, no you don't."

He lifted me with ease and settled me into my sleeping back in one of the cots. I felt something cool beside my arm and shivered. He tucked me in further, kissing my forehead before laying in the cot next to mine. "Tomorrow, we'll send word to Jesse and Bran. Tell them what's happened, and have someone sent down here."

I mumbled in agreement.  
"We should get ahold of Darryl and Warren too- I think he and Kyle were taking a trip somewhere nearby."

Another half-hearted sound that was bordering on a snore. A hand played with my hair, followed by another chuckle. "There's no talking to you when you're this far gone." Adam let out a sigh. "Alright, alright. I'll talk to you in the morning. I love you." The cot shifted under his weight. The sound of wings came from outside, followed by the smell of fire and ash. Must have been the harpies. Not that it mattered to me- I was just glad to be laying down and falling asleep. It was the deepest sleep I could remember having since before we left.

The sun had just started to rise when someone's scream woke me.


	4. We Visit the Toilets to Make A Call

**Percy**

Being woken up from a great dream sucks. Being woken up from a great dream and being thrown into a nightmare sucks more. It's not like demigods haven't seen our fair share of monsters, but that doesn't make it any less exhausting when we have to fight. It's like any other workout: if it's intense enough, you never stop feeling the burn. You just find that you can get through the motions a bit better than the last time around. Today wasn't any different.

Our featured monster in this episode of _Demigods Demolish Stuff_ looked like some kind of metal harpy. It still had the face of a woman, but instead of skin and feathers it was all copper, and at least twice the size of the cleaning ladies around here. It screeched twice as loud, too. Campers hopped along, trying to stuff their arms and legs into their armor as they ran. I would laugh at the crazy hair and PJ's, but I was a bit preoccupied trying to dive out of the way of bird-woman's talons. Earlier this morning, an Aphrodite girl went to get her makeup supplies out of the bathrooms when she found the thing. Her scream woke everyone up, and we raced outside to see if someone had been murdered. I mean, it was a pretty horrific sound. Piper was the first one to reach her.

"Susan," she said as she raced across the field, "Susan, are you okay?"  
The girl's face was hidden under a mass of blonde curls. "M-my hair!" she sobbed, "It's _ruined_ my hair!"

Piper and another Aphrodite girl began wiping her hair out of her face, whispering things to calm her down. Jason and I got about a half dozen dirty looks from her cabin mates for laughing. We were cut short by the sound of screeching metal. A flash of bronze, and three streaks of blood were trickling down my face. Annabeth called out somewhere behind me. I spat on the ground; this bird chick was gonna pay. Out of the corner of my eye I could see two figures running faster than the rest. Mercy bounded out of cabin eight, her braids undone and shirt turned sideways from how she slept. No- it wasn't how she slept.

She was _taking off_ her clothes.

Bird Lady took another swipe at me, and this time one of her claws got close enough to nick my left ear. Annabeth came to a stop beside me and hurled her shoe- which up until that point she had been trying to get on her foot- at the monster, who screeched as it hit her in the nose. Judging by the look on Annabeth's face, she saw Mercy undressing too. "I can't use my knife unless it gets close," she said, "We need the Apollo cabin out here now."

"Say no more," called Will Solace. He was sprinting downhill with four or five of his siblings in hot pursuit. Since being held to their oath about claiming children, the Apollo cabin has started booming- not on the level that Hermes was at before the war with the Titans, but their number was decent enough to outweigh the rest of us. Will raised his sword, and on command his siblings lined up like they were on a battlefield. They took aim, and when Will dropped his sword, five arrows whizzed by. Three made their mark, but it was only enough to slow Bird-Lady down. She swooped low in a blind rage, two arrows still caught in her feathers. Something brown and furry shot over my head as I rolled to the side.

Mercy had shifted into her coyote form.

She vaulted overhead and latched onto the creature by the neck, shaking her jaws and growling in what I'm guessing was an attempt at decapitation. Metal feathers fell over us like copper confetti as the two rose higher in the air. I hoped for Mercy's sake that she could hold on.

"Fire!" shouted an Apollo member.  
"No," said Will, "you might hit the wrong target."  
One of the Aphrodite girls- Drew, I think her name was- scoffed and placed her manicured hands on her hips. "If she's stupid enough to hitch a ride, she deserves to be shot."

A loud growl came from behind me, and I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Then again, you never want to keep your back to a wolf, because that either means you're really stupid or about to become dinner. I saw Drew clamp her mouth shut before I faced Adam- who at that point, I'd never seen in werewolf form before. And it's something I won't be forgetting.

The guy is huge, but his wolf is gigantic. He looked meaner than Cerebus, if that was possible, with shiny silver and black fur that stuck up along his spine. His teeth were the length of my forearm, and his paws were thicker than my legs. I fought the urge to back away, like everyone else was doing. Staring at the point just below his eyes, I capped Riptide for good measure. But Adam didn't seem to care. He didn't notice me at all. His attention was on the demon bird from Hades carrying his wife to kingdom come. Drew and the Apollo kid were safe for the time being. Adam launched himself with more power and precision than Mercy had, right onto the beast. It couldn't hold both his weight and the coyote's, and in an instant she hit the earth with a solid _thud_. Clarisse and her band of ugly siblings decided not to waste any more time.

"For Ares!" she shouted, spear overhead as she ran.  
"Ares!" echoed her siblings.

They were on Bird Lady in seconds, and Clarisse stabbed her through the torso like she were made of butter. Bird Lady kicked Clarisse so hard, she flew back a good twenty yards and landed in a mud patch, covered in copper feathers like a dirty robot chicken. Suddenly the bird-woman didn't seem all that bad. In another moment, Adam took it by the neck where Mercy had latched on, and with a loud snap the thing crumpled to the ground. It was dust before Adam lifted his massive neck. A lot happened within the next few minutes- Mercy was able to shift back and get her clothes on, campers checked to make sure no one was seriously injured, and someone from the Apollo cabin had to look at my face to make sure it wasn't serious. Adam stayed in wolf form.

As the Apollo boy finished his work of bandaging me, Clarisse pushed through the crowd of demigods, wiping mud and feathers off her face so we could have a good view of her deluxe _you're dead meat_ glare. The last time I saw that look, she took down a full-grown drakon. She stopped in front of Mercy and me, not sure which person to go off on first. It didn't take long for her to revert back to old habits.

"It was you," she said, shoving her face way to close to my nose. I could tell she hadn't showered that morning- or the day before. Clarisse waved a hand to signify Mercy and Adam, who came up just behind his wife. "You and these punks drew that thing here."

I had a choice number of things I would have liked to say, most of which started with her and her unbrushed teeth getting out of smelling range, but Annabeth knew me well enough by now not to let me run my mouth. She stepped in between Clarisse and I.

"It wasn't anyone's fault," she said with her hands up, "Monsters get in all the time- it's not like they _told_ it to come."

"Oh, really?" Clarisse asked. She leaned back a bit, but I knew she was still ticked. Her dad got the same look in his eyes when he was about to pummel someone- usually it was me. "For weeks now, nothing has gotten over that border. Not one monster." She pulled out a hunting knife the size of my arm and used it to point to the barrier, then at Mercy and Adam. "Then these two show up, and all of a sudden we get not one, but _two_ monsters trying to get past the barriers in less than twenty-four hours. And one of them succeeded while we were all asleep."

I gritted my teeth. "Clarisse-"

"What happens when more come?" she demanded, raising her voice to address the other campers. They shifted on their feet, avoiding her gaze. "What happens when new demigods try to arrive, but run into a host of monsters thanks to these two?" She glared at Mercy with murder in her eyes. "We might have another Thalia on our hands, but this time whatever demigod gets caught in the crossfire won't be tuned into a tree-"

"Clarisse," Annabeth said in a growl that could rival a werewolf's, "stop."

That set Big 'n Smelly off even more. She took a step forward until the two were nose-to-nose. I knew Annabeth could take her down, but it didn't stop me from stepping forward. We have literally been through hell and back, and nothing bothered Annabeth more than bringing up her best friend's almost death. Especially if it was being used against her- and I wasn't about to let it go unpunished. Clarisse curled her lip at us.

"You of all people should know this is a bad idea, Wise Girl. If a camper dies because of them, there will be blood on all of our hands."

Annabeth's eyes dropped, and that's when I got mad. You don't make the smartest girl I know start to question herself. You don't spit all over her strategic skills in front of the entire camp, and if you want to live, you don't do it in front of me. I gave Clarisse a good shove. Her eyes widened as she fell into the dirt, flailing her arms like a flightless bird. It was way more satisfying than I thought it'd be. Behind her, the rest of the Ares cabin gasped. A couple stepped forward to offer her a hand, but she had regained her composure enough to tell them to back off. More dirt got on her face, but this time she didn't wipe it away. She hauled herself on her massive feet and started coming toward me. I crouched into position as if to say _bring it on_. Annabeth seemed to have woken up from her daze.

"That's enough, both of you," she said. I was too angry to listen.

I launched myself forward, tackling Clarisse back to the ground with a solid _thud_ that everyone within ten feet of us could feel. Mercy tried to say something, but I couldn't hear it. I held Clarisse at sword point, angling Riptide right under her chin. She didn't so much as flinch. With a firm kick, I was sent flying and landed on my back. I'm sure it would smart in a couple of hours, but right now the only thing on my mind was making sure Clarisse ate some more dirt. I took a chunk of it in my hands and hurtled the clump straight at her mouth. When it hit her in the face, a screen of dirt exploded, making her cough and hack. Everyone else was smart enough to stay out of our way. This wasn't the first time we butted heads, and it wouldn't be the last. Clarisse was about to give me the hardest wack with her electric spear when horse hooves clopped in the dirt behind me. "That is enough, Clarisse."

I looked over my shoulder, panting harder than I care to admit, to see Chiron frowning at me. He didn't help me up or give me a " _way to go, man- you got her!"_ like I thought he would. Instead, he waited for me to get to my feet. "A shameful, reckless display," he said to both of us, more sharply than I have ever heard come from him. "So this is how you decide to act in front of guests." Clarisse and I both started talking at once.

"But Chiron-"  
"It was Seaweed Brain's-"

"I said," Chiron snapped, " _enough._ "

He clopped over to Mercy and Adam, who hadn't seen him in all his horsey glory until now. Chiron was just taller than the werewolf, who looked up at him without much expression. I guess it's a pack thing, that you can't show your fear or shock or whatever. Mercy looked a bit more surprised, but she didn't say anything. Chiron did the talking for them "I am sorry," he said, "my demigods are used to talking more with their weapons than words." He glanced back at us with a flicker of something in his eyes, but still spoke to Mercy and Adam. "It would seem your arrival here should teach them a thing or two in tact."

"Chiron," said Clarisse as she came forward, shoving a finger at them, "we haven't had any monster attacks until they showed up."

"Yes," he said, "and it was bound to happen sooner or later." He turned his horse-half around to face her and the rest of the campers, being sure not to back into Mercy and her husband. I'm sure that would have gone over well. "With so many demigods arriving in such a short span of time, it's no wonder we've begun to attract some attention. I don't suppose either Adam or Mercy have gotten a call from a Greek monster before arriving here?"

Adam shook his head 'No.'  
"We've had our fair share of the supernatural," said Mercy, "but nothing Greek."  
Chiron smiled a little. "There you have it."

"But-"

"My dear," said Chiron in a softer voice, "it's not bad to worry about the camp- about your friends. But think it through. Demigods attract monsters. And when there are so many in one place…."  
Clarisse looked like she was about to throw her spear. She stomped in frustration.  
"These two are going to destroy the camp, and no one cares!" The crowd parted to make way as she stormed across the field to the Ares cabin. Her siblings followed.

Chiron heaved a sigh, then looked to Annabeth. "I would like to speak to you in private, Miss Chase. Percy, would you give Mercy and Adam a tour of the grounds? Be sure to stay together, especially in the forest."

I watched Annabeth walk off with Chiron. She still looked pretty beat up about what Clarisse said. It took all of my willpower to turn away. By now, the other campers got the message: the show was over. Jason and Piper lingered a bit, then told me they'd be down by the lake if I wanted to hang out later. It didn't take long for the rest to clear out, and soon it was just the three of us. "Right," I said. "So where should we start?"

"First thing's first," said Mercy, "Adam needs to change. Too long in wolf form will drain his energy." Adam gave her a grateful nod and bounded back to the Artemis cabin.

* * *

"I'm sorry- about back there."

Adam, Mercy, and I walked through the strawberry fields as the satyrs were tending the plants. They played different styles of music on reed pipes, dancing around to make the strawberries grow and respond to their tune. You'd think rock 'n roll would sound bad on reed pipes, but the satyrs knew how to make it sound good. There was only one I knew that couldn't play well. "It's not your fault," I said over the music. It probably sounded more harsh than I meant, but I was still ticked at Clarisse. I tried to sound more casual. "It happens all the time- Clarisse just likes to yell."

"I kind of got that impression."

"Almost thought her head would explode," said Adam. He was starting to get used to the place. Now every time we explained something to him, he'd nod once or say "Got it" like we were giving him the time. I started our tour by showing them the training arena and checking out the lava pit (campers were already starting their turns, one or two almost being incinerated in the process. Mercy asked if it was considered safe enough to use, to which me and some others laughed. Being a demigod is dangerous in and of itself- there's no such thing as safe), then we decided to cut across the field and see the rest of the cabins. I figured it'd be easier to show them off in broad daylight when they could actually be seen- Hades' cabin was almost invisible in the dark. I glanced over at Adam and laughed once. "I wish."

"Thanks for sticking up for us," said Mercy, "especially since you don't know us all that well."  
I shrugged one shoulder. "Anyway," I said, "These are the cabins."

Standing in a wide 'U' were the original twelve cabins of the twelve Olympian gods, now making more of a circle as more cabins were added. No two cabins were the same. It was pretty easy to tell which one represented which god- at least it was for me. I've been here since I was twelve, and have watched the majority of the new ones be built from the ground up. Walking backwards to face them, I started explaining the ins and outs of each cabin, who they were dedicated to and whatnot. Mercy was more of a history buff, and once in awhile she'd take over narrating when I left something out- but most of her information was based on old books that were kind of outdated. Together, we filled in some of the gaps between ancient history and modern, while Adam inspected the cabins more closely. He stopped in front of a dark cabin covered in weird symbols, and was about to touch something when I cleared my throat.

"Not a good idea, man," I said.  
He glanced over his shoulder, hand still outstretched toward the door frame. "Who's cabin is this?"  
"That would be my mother's."

Megan seemed to materialize out of the shadows as she approached, headphones in and holding a notepad and sharpie. She bounded up the stairs without so much as a "Feel free to come inside! I just cleaned up the place for visitors." Adam lowered his hand and went back to where Mercy and I were standing. "You're the girl we met at the Big House." Megan sat across the top of the steps, much like she had earlier.

"That's me."  
"Wait," said Mercy, cocking her head to one side, "I thought demigods couldn't have electronics. You said it would attract monsters."

Megan scoffed. "Electronics designed by mortal hands, yes. This was made by one of the Hephaestus kids in cabin nine." She held up her music player for us to see. I'm not a huge tech whiz, but I know top-quality gear when I see it. This thing rivaled some of the gadgets I've seen on display in malls and music shops. It was bronze, lightweight and crafted with a hammer etched on the back. The symbol of Hephaestus. I whistled. "How'd you get one of them to make it for you?"

"I didn't," Megan said, "I saw it and traded with them."  
That surprised me. "Hephaestus kids charge an arm and a leg before you convince them to part with one of their projects. The nicer it is, the less likely you are to get it."  
Megan began scrolling through her songs list with a finger. "Guess I'm just lucky." She leaned against the pillar at her back, and next thing I know, our conversation was cut off by a shredding guitar solo from AC/DC. "Right then," I said to Adam and Mercy, "moving on." I was about to usher them to the Apollo cabin when Mercy put a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, Percy?"  
"Yeah?"

A shadow passed over her face. "The tour is great and all, but we really need to speak with Jesse. Make sure she's okay, let her know we're alright. Can you show us how to get ahold of her?"

I had almost forgot about Pepto-Bismol girl. "Yeah, of course."

Reaching into my pocket, I felt past Riptide and withdrew a golden drachma. Mercy seemed to be so fascinated by it that I ended up pulling out a second one for her to inspect while we walked back through the fields and down to the bathrooms. Not the nicest place for a phone call, but it had a hose. I turned the lever three times, just enough for a good stream to flow through, and pressed my thumb over the top. Instant spray. Like the kind you'd use on your friends in the backyard during a heat wave. I angled it just right so that the light would make a rainbow. Adam looked around, like this wasn't something he wanted the other campers to watch. "What does that do?"

I gave him a wicked grin. "You'll see."

Pressing the drachma between my thumb and finger, I flicked it straight through the rainbow and watched as it disappeared. "Neat trick," said Mercy. I cleared my throat, making sure to keep the rainbow intact.  
"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." Then to Adam I said, "Name the person you want to speak to, and their location."  
Adam paused, said "Jesse Hauptman," and gave the name and hotel room they were staying at. We waited. For thirty seconds nothing happened. Then a feminine voice that I recognized as Fleecy's told us that our call could not be patched through at this time, like, try again later. I lowered the hose. "Huh. That's odd. You sure she was in Manhattan?"

"That's where we left her," said Mercy, "she was going back to the hotel with Gabriel."  
"Unless she went somewhere else," I pointed out.  
"I don't like this," said Adam. "Jesse never runs away."  
"Maybe we could try Warren," Mercy suggested. "He's in the area, right?"  
Adam thought for a moment before sighing. "It seems we don't have any other options. Can you get us through, Percy?"

"On it."

I asked for the remaining drachma and repeated the offering. Adam straightened and said "Warren Smith. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania," and a house address I didn't recognize. The mist became hazy, and then on the other end we heard a loud thump followed by " _Ow!"_ I couldn't turn the hose without the rainbow disappearing, so I had to rely on my ears. A thick, southern accent came through on the other end and said "Adam? Mercy? What in the hell- how are y'all doing that?"

Someone else was there in the background, but sounded like it was coming from another room. This voice was more mid-western. "Everything okay in there?"

"We don't have time to explain," said Adam. I could tell he was a no-nonsense kind of guy, because less than a minute later he had this Warren dude more or less filled in on where they were and how Jesse wasn't answering our calls. "We need you to get ahold of The Marrok, tell him what's going on and see if he can send someone up to Long Island."

"Got it, boss. You want me to look for Jesse, too?"  
"Please," said Mercy. "And if you get ahold of Zee, let him know the shop will need to be looked after for another week or so."  
"Alright. I should probably tell Kyle what's goin' on, too. Unless it's need-to-know?"  
Adam waved a hand. "That's fine, just tell Bran where we are and find Jesse."  
"Alright. Take care, both of you."

A second later, the connection was dropped. I flexed the hand that had been holding the hose up and turned off the water. Mercy didn't look much relieved- if I had to guess I'd say she looked more worried than before the call. "Where could she have gone?"

"Maybe she went shopping," I offered. "New York is pretty well-known for the malls and restaurants."  
"She'd never run off at a time like this," said Adam.  
"Maybe if we get across the camp borders," said Mercy, "we could check your phone and see if the hotel security camera picked up anything."  
"It's a start," said Adam, "but we need to make sure she gets somewhere safe."  
"I've got an idea," I said. Without waiting, I turned and sprinted back to the cabins. A tree trunk hung out at an awkward angle, and I had to keep from tripping over it as I jumped past and headed straight for the darkest cabin in Camp Half Blood. The torches were still lit, making the skulls adorning every wall look like they were laughing.

"Nico!" I called, cupping my hands over my mouth like a megaphone. "Yo, Nico!"  
"Yeah?"

At that point I realized it would have been a good idea to tell Mercy and Adam that Nico, as a child of Hades, can shadow-travel. He stood under the shade of a huge oak, with everything from his torso down still in the earth. He had risen from underground like it was the bottom of a swimming pool, and all he needed to do was stand up to break through the surface (I'm a child of Poseidon- water analogies are kind of my thing). Mercy and Adam both did a double take when they saw him. The looks on their faces were pure gold.

Nico noticed it to, and he made a show of rising at a slower pace so that they could really take it in. Mercy whistled in appraisal.  
"You'll have to do that for some of our friends," she said.  
Nico crossed his arms. "So they can study me?"  
"So you can scare the bajeezus out of them."  
Nico scratched the bottom of his chin, sitting at the base of the tree. The ground under him was now solid. "I do like scaring people- especially when they deserve it."

"And sometimes when they don't," I added.

"Hey," he said, "That wasn't my fault- I can't see what's on the other side of my shadow travel until I'm close."  
I rubbed the back of my neck where the rock hit me when I fell that day. Everyone at camp knows to always be on guard for anything, but I wasn't expecting Goth Boy to pop out of nowhere and run into me dead on. The noise that came out of my mouth was less than flattering.

"Shadow travel," said Mercy, "perk of being a Hades kid?"

Nico's mouth twitched in a smile. "For some of us. It's something you have to learn to master."  
I nodded, pointing a thumb in his direction. "This guy carried the Athena Parthenos- the _real_ Athena Parthenos- from Rome to Camp Half Blood, and two other people, in a matter of days."  
Mercy's eyes grew large. "That thing is said to be huge!"  
Nico shrugged. "It was nothing," He kept his gaze down, addressing me without looking away from the blade of grass he was inspecting. "You called?"  
I nodded once. "We have a favor to ask you."


	5. There's A New Demigod In Town

**Mercy:**

I watched Nico disappear again, gawking in appraisal. "That is beyond cool."  
Adam grunted. He was never in a talkative mood when he was upset. I patted his shoulder in comfort. "It'll be okay," I said, "I have pretty good instincts about this kind of thing."  
My husband rolled his eyes at me. "Yeah, you've never gotten yourself into trouble before."  
"Only when it really mattered."  
"I can't count on both hands how many times you've wandered recklessly into something-"  
"Hey, most of the time those things happen to me. I can't help but respond when something bad happens."

"Sounds familiar," said Annabeth.

She had arrived just as Percy was finishing up explaining his plan to us, and agreed that it was pretty solid strategic-wise. Of course I was okay with it. Nico hadn't lied about anything, and he seemed more than willing. We all had looked to Adam for the final word, and with some reluctance he gave it a thumbs up- or in his case, a slight head nod. He still didn't look too happy about it. After Nico left, Percy had taken off a shoe and aimed it at one of the fruit hanging off the tree above us.

"Relax, Annabeth," he said over his shoulder, "I've got this."  
"All that food in the dinning pavilion," she said with crossed arms, "and you have to get _this_ particular fruit?" I noticed she was standing well away, and wondered if I should be doing the same. Percy kept his focus on the tree branches above. "Why should I have to walk so far? There's food right here."

Annabeth glanced at the apple he was aiming for. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She spoke too late. Percy chucked the sneaker over his head, right to the center of the tree. The sneaker spun mid-air, making contact with a ripe red apple and both fell to the ground with a satisfying _thump_. The son of Poseidon turned with a wide smile, and was just about to gloat when another dropped square on his head. His lopsided grin fell into a frown as he said "Ouch!" More apples followed the first two, forcing Adam and I to dodge and duck to avoid being hit. A couple more hit Percy, until all at once the fruit stopped falling.

Annabeth surveyed the damage. "You've got this, huh?"  
Percy recovered his bruised ego as best he could, strolling over to the nearest fruit. He plucked it from the grass and took a bite. With a full mouth, he said "Easy as apple pie."  
Annabeth remained impassive. "You realize you just at an insect, right?"  
Percy looked down at the fruit of his labor to see half of what looked like some kind of beetle. Its legs were still twitching. Apple chunks flew from his mouth as he tried to get the rest of it out, and I couldn't help but laugh. "I hope that was a lesson well learned."

"I don't know," Annabeth replied. Her arms were still crossed, but it was obvious that she was struggling to keep a serious expression- like a mother attempting to scold a misbehaved child for doing something adorable. "He never seems to retain information. Could be at it again in a few hours." As we headed back to the pavilion, I could hear her say "I am not kissing you until you wash your mouth out. Thoroughly."

"A little protein never hurt anybody," Percy said.

There was a chuckle from behind me. "Now who does that remind me of?" said Adam under his breath. He matched my pace as we walked, looking straight ahead. I decided to feign offense. "Oh come on- I'm not that bad, am I?" Adam considered for a moment. "There is one significant difference."  
"Oh?"  
"One of you is entirely more forgivable than the other."

I chucked the apple core in my hand as we passed under a tree, and could have sworn I heard a young girl cursing at the 'stupid Indian woman with poor aim'. But when I turned back, there was no one there. Adam was still smiling when I faced him again. "It's easier to forgive someone when you're obsessed with their backside," I countered.  
Without missing a beat, Adam said, "Not once have I even looked at Percy's butt."  
He said it low enough that only the two of us could hear, but I did notice that the conversation behind us paused for a moment after Adam said that. We passed by the bathrooms, and there was a sound of running water followed by a 'See? Told you I could rinse off in no time'.  
"Admit it, Hauptman," I said, "You put up with my antics because deep down you like them."  
"In the same way I like being electrocuted, or doing my taxes," my husband replied.  
I punched his arm. "Hey- I can make the shoe epidemic of '87 look like a small mishap."  
Adam caught my second advance on his bicep with his other hand and laughed. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Will do," I said with a wink. When the pavilion came in sight, I ran ahead to give him a good view of my assets.

That evening went on much like the first night. We gave offerings before dinner, then took our seats among the campers. General opinion of us must have improved, because we didn't get as many stares or comments as we had the day before. Adam ignored the raging teenage hormones and chose to focus all of his energy on devouring an entire chicken (I guess the cooks were aware of our being here, too. There was an entire section dedicated to meats, twice as much as there had been yesterday).

We sang along to some of the campfire songs, sang some of our own when requested, and listened to ghost stories from some of the senior campers. The trouble with hearing Greek demigods tell stories is, you never know what actually happened and what didn't- especially when snake-people, dragons, and having to hail taxis all across the country are involved. The good ones were met with fist-pounding and applause. By the third story the fire had risen several more feet and turned bright orange.

I leaned into my husband's arm as he roasted a marshmallow hanging from a stick. It was on fire, with a bright blue at the center of the flame.  
"Think we can use some of this to spook the guys back home?"

"I don't think marshmallows would terrify werewolves all that much," he said. He removed the stick from the heat, inspecting his handy work before swallowing it whole. I didn't know if I was imagining it, but it sounded like some of the young girls in Piper's cabin were sighing. "You know what I meant," I said, choosing to ignore the wave of adolescent brain chemistry. If Adam could do it, then so could I. He took a thoughtful bite from a second marshmallow that replaced the first. "I'm pretty sure most of my pack has been around to see a thing or two," he said, "enough to trump a few summer camp ghost stories, anyway."

"A lot of these really happened, you know," said the blonde boy with tan skin. I've seen Nico hanging around him a lot, and he looked kind of disappointed when Skull Shirt didn't show up for dinner. He pointed his skewer in our direction. "You weren't aware of the war against the Titans a couple years ago, but it was more than your typical mortal shindig."  
"It's true," said someone in the back.

"You've been to war?" asked Adam. He had served in WWII when he was turned. He was in his mid-twenties (which is why he still looks to be about that age even today. After all, werewolves are immortal). He lost a lot of friends in that war, and more still in the years following when old age had claimed them. His own experiences were enough to strip him of any religious beliefs, but he was always interested to hear the stories of soldiers. Adam respected those who offered their own lives to save others. But it was evident in his face that he found it hard to believe this kid who was three times his junior had seen a battlefield.

"War was waged between the gods and their children and the titans of old," said Chiron. "Our numbers were much fewer, and many were slain, but eventually we did prevail." He looked around at his campers with a fond smile. Then his eyes grew sad, and he faltered. "At any rate, our fire is about to go out, and the harpies will soon begin their chores. I'd hate to see any of you eaten for being outdoors past curfew."

I climbed into bed while Adam dressed down for the night. It was an old habit to sleep in the nude (partly because we had been married for less than three years, and partly because any self consciousness had ceased when changing into werewolf or coyote meant having to be out naked), but for the sake of the campers both Adam and I made a point to wear pajamas to bed. I felt an arm wrap itself around my waist and pull me back to his chest. He kissed the spot below my ear. Through the pack bonds, I could feel his emotions and thought process as he was thinking. He was tired, and hoped that the others would arrive by tomorrow. He was beating himself up about Jesse and Gabriel, especially because the latter was left in his care and he lost both of them. His grip on my waist tightened, though not enough to hurt. He needed to know I was there, he needed someone to hold onto. Even the strong needed support at times. I put my hand above his, and even though he could feel my emotions as much as I could his, I still spoke aloud. Sometimes, words were more important.

"It's going to be okay. I love you."  
I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck as he chuckled. "You always know the right thing to say."

"We've got a new demigod that just came through the barrier," said Jason. He was covered in sweat as he flipped his spear, which shrunk down mid-flight to a coin the size of a sand dollar. Adam went to contact Warren while I sat in the Big House with Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron to play a strange card game I never heard of. Chiron was about to take the winnings when the door burst open, scattering the cards in the wind. The game now forgotten, the old centaur backed his wheelchair from the table.

"A new demigod?"

Jason nodded, his military-like way of talking reminding me of Adam. Neither of them fed around the bush. "Small boy, about eleven. Maybe twelve. His godly parent's sign faded before we could see it- there was a bit of, um-"

"There was another monster attack," Clarisse said, not bothering to let Jason finish. She bounded up the steps with daggers in her eyes, aimed at Percy and me. "Two snake women were tailing him for miles."  
"Heh," said Percy from his seat at the table, "snake women. Tailing him."  
Annabeth rolled her eyes for the fifteenth time that day. Sometimes, I wondered if eventually they'd roll right out of her head. "Really, Seaweed-Brain?"

"Sorry," said Percy. He didn't look all that sorry.

Jason cleared his throat. "Anyway, he's a bit shaken. Won't talk to us much."  
The old centaur nodded, and was in the middle of requesting that Jason bring the kid in to talk to him when Percy's face became more serious. Suddenly he looked less like the trouble-making jokester and more like a leader as he sat up in his chair.  
"Chiron- I'm going to level with you here. After running all over New York with these weird reptilian ladies trying to kill him, I don't think a twelve-year-old boy is going to feel better when a horse-man tells him that's there's an entire swarm of uglies who wouldn't mind having demigod for dinner."

Chiron wheeled himself around to look Percy full in the face. "What do you suggest, Mr. Jackson?"  
"Maybe it would be better to send someone out to talk to him. Demigod to demigod."

Clarisse crossed her arms, blocking the doorway with her massive frame. "And you think you can do that?" Her tone didn't seem to have an edge on him. Percy leaned back in his chair again, scratching his chin with his sword-pen. Lucky for him, it was in pen form.

"Well why not? I was in his shoes once. I've been around the block a couple times- maybe I can try and calm him down enough to explain things to him."  
"Very well then," said Chiron, "go speak with the boy, make sure you are back by dinner. Miss Chase, I advise you join Percy. Just in case he needs more...support."  
She gave Percy a I-can't-leave-you-alone-for- _five_ -minutes look before rising to her feet.  
"I agree. Well, we better be off then." Something stirred in the pit of my stomach, and I found myself rising from the table with the two of them. Across the room, the leopard's head regarded me with the eyes of a hunter going in for the kill.  
"Can I come with you," I asked. I wanted to get in on the action. Sitting around all day gets to me. Percy walked past Clarisse without so much as a glance in her direction. He sounded almost too casual. "Yeah, but we should probably hold off on telling the kid what you guys are- at least wait until we've explained who _we_ are."

I shrugged, following him and Annabeth out the door while poor Jason stayed behind to pick up the remnants of our card game. "I won't argue there."

We found the boy curled in the fetal position under a large oak tree. His hair covered his face, but I could tell he had been crying from the way he shook when he breathed. This kid couldn't have been older than eleven, or I was a centaur. Annabeth was the one who got to him first. "Hey, are you alright?" She held out a hand and slowly approached, like he was a frightened horse. The boy quickly wiped at his face with the back of his tattered sleeve. "I'm fine," he said, a little too defiantly. "Just leave me alone." His hair was choppy, like he'd been cutting it himself for years. He lost one of his shoes along the way, and the other looked like it had seen better days. From his size I could tell he hadn't had a good meal in quite some time.

"We came to help you," said Percy. He stood by Annabeth's side. I decided it would be better to stay a bit further back. Too many people crowding him would probably make the kid even more uneasy. The boy lifted his chin. "Are they gone?" He ducked his head like we were going to hit him, but then he got enough courage to add, "those snake ladies."

"They won't harm you anymore," said Percy. He acted just like an Alpha, someone who could protect and defend. The boy noticed it, too. He lowered his sleeve and looked at us with large brown eyes. "Monsters can't come across the camp borders unless invited," said Annabeth, "they won't come after you." This seemed to calm him even more. He relaxed against the trunk of the tree, his muscles beginning to show signs of fatigue. "So you can see them too?"

"Yes," Annabeth agreed.  
"They said I was crazy. They said nothing was there, and that I was doing it to myself."  
For the first time I noticed the cuts and bruises from under the holes of his clothes. The boy continued to speak, more to himself than anyone else. "They were going to send me away. I tried to tell them, but they didn't listen." He seemed to be aware of us again- or of Percy and Annabeth. "Where am I?"

"You're at Camp Half Blood," said Percy, "it's a special summer camp for kids like you- like us."  
"You mean, they come after you too?"  
Percy nodded grimly. Annabeth cleared her throat. "My name's Annabeth, this is Percy-" she pointed a thumb at him, and gestured back to me, "And Mercy Hauptman."  
The boy hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I'm Tyler."

"Tyler," said Percy, trying out the new name, "Do you know how you got here?" The boy shook his head uneasily. Annabeth and Percy exchanged a look, having a silent conversation. Then Percy spoke out loud. "You're here because of your parent."

The boy scrunched his nose in disgust. "I haven't talked to my mom in forever. She kicked me out." This seemed like a common theme among the others, who nodded with sympathy. Annabeth took the opportunity to sit beside him on the ground, where the kid absently pulled blades of grass up and let them fall to the side. The daughter of Wisdom studied him. "You don't get along with her?"

"No," he scoffed, "She says I cause too many problems, make life harder for her and her _new_ family."

Annabeth sighed. Clearly she's had this conversation before. "I'm sorry to hear that, Tyler. My dad and I fought like that too, once. But you aren't here because of her- you're here because of your dad." Tyler looked as if this whole thing were a joke, and he was waiting for the punchline. When it didn't come, he just shook his head. "But I don't know my dad. He left before I was born." Annabeth shifted. I found myself scratching the back of my head in uncertainty. But Percy kept his cool. "Tyler...you have a hard time keeping up in school, right? Maybe you've been to some doctors, and they've diagnosed you with ADHD or something similar?" Tyler's eyes sparked with something.

"How'd you know?"

"Because we're all like that. Only, we don't have ADHD. We're demigods." There was silence for a breath, and I could hear some of the other campers laughing under the pavilion or sparing in the arena some ways off. I doubt the others could.  
"Demi-what?" asked Tyler.

"Demigods," Percy said, almost a heartbeat before Annabeth replied, "Your father is a god, Tyler." The boy narrowed his eyes. "That's make-believe stuff older kids use to trick me. I don't believe you." Annabeth placed a hand on his shoulder, and the boy tensed.  
"Tyler, has something ever happened to you that almost felt like it was magic, but when you turn and look no one else seems to notice?" He didn't say anything, so Annabeth continued. "You don't have ADHD- your brain is hardwired for battle. It's instincts that can keep you alive in a fight, which I'm guessing has already come in handy." I noticed the boy rubbing his arms for a moment while Annabeth talked. "And when you read, the words jump off the page, right? That's not dyslexia, that's your mind being set to read Ancient Greek. I know what you're going through. I'm a daughter of the Greek goddess Athena- Percy here is the son of the sea god, Poseidon."

Tyler studied Percy more closely. "You mean you can move water and stuff?" Percy deliberated a moment. "Well, yeah."  
"Show me."

Percy extended his hand and closed his eyes. In an instant, water pooled from the ground and came dancing through the air, into the palm of his hand. He molded it into a liquid sphere, balancing the orb between him and the boy at eye level. Tyler's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. He looked from Annabeth to Percy and back. "Who's my dad?" The sphere lost its shape and splashed in the grass when Percy said, "We were hoping you could tell us."

"Huh?"

"There was a flash of light when we found you," said Annabeth, "do you remember what it looked like?" Tyler started to play with the sleeves of his hoodie, and from the state of it I guessed it wasn't the first time he did so. That must be a coping mechanism for him; when he got nervous, the kid fidgeted and needed something to keep his hands busy. "Well," he said slowly, "it was red, and it looked like a big, furry pig with a spear going through it."

"A boar," Annabeth said, releasing a breath.  
"Yeah, that sounds right."  
"Tyler," said Annabeth with formality, "you are a child of Ares." There was hope in his voice when he spoke. "Who's he? Does he get cool superpowers, too?"  
"He's the god of war," she said, "He can't control water like Percy's dad does, but he's an expert in fighting."  
"And ticking people off," Percy mumbled. He sat down on the opposite side of Tyler after his water sphere had melted, and now he was picking the grass beside him. Annabeth reached behind Tyler to swat the back of Percy's head. "Ow! I mean- yeah, he's pretty well known."

Tyler tried to mask his disappointment. "Oh. That's cool too, I guess."  
"Clarisse and her siblings are children of Ares, as well," Annabeth continued to make up for Percy's fumbling, "They'll take good care of you." This time, Tyler didn't bother hiding his emotions. "You mean- you're going to leave me?"

"Only for a little while," she said, "We have some things to take care of, but we can hang out at the campfire tonight and check to see how you're doing." It didn't take coyote senses to tell that the boy wasn't happy about it- but he didn't have much of a choice Short of going back over the boundaries and straight into monster territory, it was the only thing he could do.

"Okay."

I felt for the kid, honestly.

For me it was a lot easier. I grew up knowing what I was, since the day my mother found a coyote pup in my crib. Even having to live with foster parents and later Bran, I always knew where I came from, always had family who loved me. But this kid spent his whole life thinking he had been abandoned by just another deadbeat dad, to live with a mom that wants nothing to do with him and tried to have him shipped to an asylum or some other equally horrifying place. And from the sound of it, this rang true for a lot of the campers. I turned away from the scene frowning. Suddenly the gods didn't seem as great as the history books say.

We walked down to the cabins, me giving a brief rundown of what I was and why I was at a camp for demigods to Tyler. Shape-shifting into a coyote didn't seem all that great to me, but apparently it was worthy of an "Oh, wow- cool!" from him. But then he saw Adam, and my moment of stardom faded into obscurity. Then again, I couldn't compete with the big bad wolf. Adam was really hard to look at. Not only was he super sexy (no matter how much he tried to downplay it) but people- both human and otherwise- had the instinct to look away from his gaze. To werewolves, looking directly into someone's eyes meant dominance or defiance, and if you did it for too long with the wrong wolf, things could get deadly. People avoid it when they can, even if they don't fully understand why. Tyler went right up to an Alpha as if he were Superman, staring at him in awe.

Luckily, Adam was much more level-headed than the average werewolf. His lip twitched, which meant that he was highly amused. Tyler unleashed a whirlwind of questions on him in such rapid fire succession that it was hard to answer most of them. Meanwhile Percy was talking to one of the meaner-looking campers outside of the war zone cabin. I wouldn't want to mess with any of these kids, but the Ares campers looked especially menacing. This boy looked like he was near Adams age rather than a teenager, with buzzed hair and black clothing.

"New recruit, eh?" The Ares boy studied Tyler for a moment just as he came bounding up behind Percy. He looked better than the kid we found huddled under a tree, and we probably had Adam to thank for that. The older boy grunted. "We'll tell Clarisse that-"

"Tell me what?" Clarisse stepped out of the cabin before he could finish, strapping a belt with a sword to her waist. She looked from her sibling to Jackson to Tyler, and pieced it together herself. As much as I didn't like her attitude, mean girl wasn't an idiot. She glared at Percy, but addressed the newcomer. "Don't stand too close to Jackson, kid. He doesn't care what happens to anyone these days." With a rough pat on the back, she lead him up the way we had came. "C'mon, I'll show you around."

Tyler paused, looking back at Percy with a question in his eyes. Percy's jaw was shut tight, but he nodded once. With a reluctant nod in return, Tyler followed Clarisse. The two disappeared after a moment, and the Ares camper didn't stay out long enough for a conversation. "Are they always this cheerful?" I asked.

"Ares isn't the friendliest god out there," said Annabeth carefully, "his children take after him like that."  
"Except for Tyler, it seems," said Adam. The rest of us looked at him, and he gave half a shrug. "Doesn't seem like the sort of person who starts very many fights."  
"He's a lot like Frank," agreed Annabeth. She caught my and Adam's confused expression. "One of our friends. He's a demigod too, son of Ares. Or Mars, rather."  
"Frank wasn't much like his father at all," said Percy, "Especially not in the beginning. Then war happened, and he didn't really have much of a choice. He's a lot friendlier than his half-siblings, unless you give him reason not to be."

Annabeth gave her boyfriend a playful shove as she made her way up the path. "And on that note, I have to tell Chiron what's happened."

"Speaking of," said Adam as the other two went off on their own way, "I came to tell you that Warren has contacted Bran and the pack. Bran will send backup along with some of ours- they should be here tomorrow or the next day."

I caught the message he didn't say out loud. "But no one has heard from Jesse." Adam took a breath, which was answer enough for me. We walked in silence for ten feet, letting the air settle between us. It had only been two days, but to a parent that may as well have been two years. It didn't help that Adam was an Alpha that had recently become the poster child for werewolves when they came out to the humans. There were a lot of people who would like to use Jesse to get to her father. And Christy, Jesse's birth mother, Adam's first wife, and president of the I-hate-Mercy fanclub, has conveniently decided to go back to the Bahama's for an extended vacation and refuses to answer any of our calls. Guess she still hasn't forgiven me for swapping her normal shampoo for blue hair dye that one time. Or for calling her garbage and threatening to leave her out with the rest of the trash.

I shook Christy from my thoughts. She doesn't matter right now.

"Percy's idea will work," I said- to assure me as well as Adam. "Jesse is tough- like her dad. She'll be okay until then. I love her, but we have other things we need to focus on, too." Adam paused, and for a second I was sure he was going to get mad at me for brushing his daughter off. But then he let out a deep sigh. "I know she is, and I know we do." He scrubbed his face with one hand and let out a laugh. "It's hard for me to let go. I was raised in a different time, Mercy. Leaving my daughter alone with her boyfriend-"

"Wait. Hold up." I stopped dead in my tracks. " _That's_ what you're worried about?" I didn't realize I was laughing until Adam said "It's not funny, Mercy."  
"This whole time I thought you were worried about Jesse being out there alone, when really you're just afraid of her being alone with _him_."  
"I'm not saying Jesse can't defend herself," said Adam, "I've made sure she would be able to when I wasn't around. But I don't like the idea of her being alone with a boy, even if that boy is as trustworthy as you say."

I snorted. "Gabriel would never do anything to hurt Jesse. He's too scared of her and her werewolf family." Adam considered. "Be that as it may, I would feel much better if I knew where they were." I took my husband's hand in mine, reading the thoughts he tried to keep hidden that were laid bare by our mating bond. "Me, too."

That evening, I walked through the trees in the deepening twilight. Dinner had ended, and I thought to get some sleep before I fell face-first into the fire. At least, Adam suggested I do so after he had to grab my arm before the flames scorched my skin. Then one of the Apollo campers agreed, and it was all over. Before I had half a dozen teenage medics on my case, I got up and headed for the direction of the cabins. Not that I'd ever admit it out loud, but I was feeling a bit sleepy. So much that I didn't hear the noise right away. It wasn't until I had nearly tripped over the roots of a tree that I saw any movement. All the hairs on my neck stood straight up. I growled without meaning to. Through the darkness I could make out three figures among the trees.


	6. I Get Scared By An Old Man

**Percy**

I fought the urge to say ' _I told you so'_ as Nico finished his story. He showed up about five minutes ago, running at Mercy's heels as she bolted for the campfire. It happened right when the Stoll brothers were at the height of their ghost story. They were just at the part where the unawares camper was about to be eaten by a Chimera when the coyote shifter burst from the bushes. Piper almost fell off her seat, Jason having to reach out and catch her. Annabeth flinched. Even Drew looked like she was about to pee herself. Then Nico came racing up after her, and Adam all but flew to the kid's side demanding to know what happened. "...and then I found these two on the side of the road with _hardware appliances_ stuffed in their bags."

"We needed something to fight with," said Jesse in defense. So the shadow travel plan had worked. She stood close to her dad near the pit. Her pink hair looked way more warped in the light of the fire. I couldn't convince myself to look at her companion just yet, but from the corner of my eye I saw him nod in agreement. "Guns aren't easy to come by, and swords aren't something we have access to. So we improvised."

Adam straightened. His eyes were hooded, showing little emotion. Which told me a beat-down was well on its way if someone didn't start talking. "Jesse Hauptman," he said quietly, "why weren't you at the hotel?"  
"We tried contacting you," said Mercy, "and when we had Warren check the video surveillance you were already gone."

To her credit, Pepto Bismol held her ground. "You must have forgotten, but that tracking system works both ways, Dad. If you had called your buddies from work, they could have told you I already checked in with them to get your signal." She flipped a loose strand of hair over her shoulder, ignoring the looks from some of the Aphrodite girls. Obviously, Jesse didn't seem to care about public opinion of her appearance. "They gave us the coordinates, which came to a dead stop on some outer road just on the outskirts of town. We scoped out the area via taxi, headed back, got the tools, and went on our way."

"That was when we ran into him," said the boy with a jerk of his head to Nico. The entire time he spoke, Nico seemed to be avoiding Mercy's gaze. He spoke slowly, too- more thoughtfully. Jesse laughed once, but there wasn't any humor in it. "Literally. Almost ran him through with the sharp end of my screwdriver by mistake."

"Like I said," said Nico, "I didn't mean to startle you."  
"You're just lucky you didn't get yourself skewered."

"It takes a lot to keep Nico down," said Will. He scanned Nico for a few moments, like he's done almost every day since we defeated Gaia. I'll admit I was a little baffled by Nico's declaration of finding me attractive, and even more so when a moment later I was reduced to 'not his type'. But Nico and Will were good for each other- Will would baby him all he liked and Nico would pretend it bothered him and start complaining. They fought like an old married couple. Not that either of them would get off their high horses and admit to their feelings.

Nico crossed his arms and tried not to blush. He was failing pretty hard when Adam released a breath. "You're here now," he said softly, then his voice hardened as he added, "but don't ever let it happen again." If I were Jesse, I'd be pretty embarrassed at being given a lecture in front of a camp of teenagers. But Jesse didn't seem to care. It all looked pretty routine, even when she gave him a mock salute and a "Yes, sir" with the conviction of a Stoll brother.

The tension was released, and the campfire rose back up. The moment Mercy made her grand entrance, it fell to glowing embers that turned almost completely black. Now some of the color returned, with a little more warmth than before. Mercy steered Jesse and her boyfriend back to the Artemis cabin for the night, hugging them and exchanging updates. It wasn't long before Adam decided to follow.

"Talk about an intense reunion," said Jason.

"Did you see her _hair_?" asked Drew. She had one hand against the side of her mouth as she talked to her sibling, but raised her voice so everyone could hear. The girl beside her laughed as they ridiculed the Alpha's daughter. "I think someone needs to tell her to keep the lights _on_ when she dyes." A couple more laughed in response, some of them from other cabins.  
Piper rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Drew."  
"Let her say what she wants," said Annabeth coolly, "she's already put her foot in her mouth talking smack about Adam's wife. I imagine she won't be so lucky again if he happens to overhear."

Drew's face went pale. I tucked Annabeth's hand in my own with pride, pulling her up just before the bell chimmed. Before we were completely emerged in darkness, I called over my shoulder in a menacing tone. "Sweet dreams, Beauty Queen."

There were no monster attacks the following morning. No alarms ringing that new arrivals were trying to get in. Just the sound of lapping water in the lake just outside my cabin, and seagulls squawking from the enchanted seashell Dad had given me as a belated birthday present. Not as cool as the sand dollar from a couple years back, but it was better than the typical birthday gift from normal dads. Beside it was my new shield that Tyson had sent me from his forges. It looked even more advanced than the ones that came out of the Hephaestus cabin. I'd been looking forward to trying that puppy out for size.

On days where nothing urgent seemed to be going on, I liked to stay in bed for a little while and just think. Sometimes about what Dad might be up to, or when I could visit my brother and see his Cyclops friends again. Other times it was about the latest scheme Jason and I were up to (much to Annabeth and Piper's disapproval). And other times it was just me and Annabeth, and all the plans we had for the future.

We were going to college in Camp Jupiter next year, and I was more than pumped. For years it seemed like we were stuck fighting monsters with no end goal in mind. At one point we were in the deepest pit of the Underworld with no possible way out, and the only thing that kept me going was our promise to do more than just battle uglies and die. It gave me hope, and even though she was a little reluctant at first, Annabeth was soon on board with it too. The idea sparked my motivation to get moving.

I hopped out of bed, changed into my day clothes- jeans that smelled clean enough and a fresh orange t-shirt- and headed out. Jumping from the highest step all the way to the ground, I started off to the Athena cabin and skidded to a halt. Nailed to one of the posts outside my cabin was a piece of old parchment paper. As shabby as it looked, the handwriting on it obviously came from someone who knew how to write. There was a name for that kind of thing- art with words, or whatever- but I forgot the name the second Annabeth had told me about it. On the front was my name, and the back read:

 _You're out of time. They're here._

Okaaay. A bit dramatic, and clearly from someone who loved horror movies. I folded the paper carefully in half and stuffed it in my pocket. It felt like forever before I reached the other cabins, even at the pace I was going. I mean, I'm no Prefontaine, but I was booking it. And yeah, the creepy note covered in bad vibes may have been part of the reason why, but it was also because today happened to be Thursday, which means blue cookies for breakfast. Extra chocolate chips; you understand my reasoning. I just had to pick up Annabeth and get going.

But by the time I got to the Athena cabin, it was cleared out. I checked my watch. Funny, I didn't sleep in that late. As I passed the other cabins in turn, I noticed they were all empty as well. I doubled my pace, feeling the wind whip my hair back from my eyes. Like Hades I would be left in the dust when blue cookies were involved.

Trees faded into a blur as I continued to run. The satyrs were out trying to catch the nymphs, nothing new there. And, as usual, the nymphs were opening their arms in welcome before changing into a tree for the poor goats to run face-first into. I winced as I ran by. Maybe one day, they'd learn. As I flew by the volleyball court I noticed the Stoll brothers weren't making the rounds trying to sell stolen shields or trading cards like usual, which meant that something weird was going on. It felt like I had been running through molasses being stirred by the Lord of Time himself, but eventually I got the pavilion. I had to stop at least a dozen feet away because it was so packed. Standing on my tiptoes, I noticed that the crowd was more dense than the usual number of campers. Even with Adam and his family among us.

"Percy!"

Annabeth and Jason were making their way through the swarm of campers, having to push past a couple who weren't paying any attention. I waited for them to be close enough to hear me over all the yammering. "You guys, what's going on? Did I miss the cookies?"

"My _gods_ , Seaweed Brain, you're hopeless."

"It's not the food," said Jason. He didn't look too happy. Without so much as a warning, Annabeth grabbed my arm and dragged me right into the throng. I was lead into the backs of some people, but none of them bothered to acknowledge me. With some effort, we made it to the front of the chaos, right in front of the circle of newcomers.

There were five of them in total, each one taking up the same amount of room as three campers. Beside Adam was a man with dark skin and narrowed eyes who looked like he could tear through concrete with his bare hands. Next to him stood a cowboy-type with the blue jeans, hat, and everything. He looked just as ripped as the first guy. The man beside Buffalo Bill was more human-looking, with a business suit and briefcase like he had been on his way to a meeting. He didn't seem thrilled to be here. Then there was a sandy-haired man eyeing the food with interest (nowhere near my cookies, lucky for him) who was more slender than the first two, but still strong based on his build. The last guy looked like he had no business being in a kid's summer camp. He was short and balding, with white hair, tanned skin, and a potbelly that could stand against Dionysus'. The sneer he displayed told me that out of the entire group, he was the least ecstatic.

The campers were sure to keep their distance, except for Chiron who was speaking with Adam. Mercy, Jesse, and Gabriel (I finally got myself to say his name) were with them. None of the wolves liked having so many eyes on them, I could tell. Apparently I wasn't the only one. "Go back to your own affairs," Chiron called out to the campers, "there is no need to crowd our guests. Be gone with you!"

Some kids delayed, acting as if their shoe came undone or they were trying to get their food. Others sighed and gave up the fight. They turned and headed out to the grassy fields to continue training or selling contraband items. Beside me, Jason looked apprehensive. "I have a bad feeling, you guys," he murmured. Annabeth remained impassive. "They haven't done anything to break our trust. Just give it some time." With a sigh, Jason relented and headed out with Piper. It was then that I noticed Nico, who stood behind a pillar as not to be seen. Up until then, it had worked.

As the campers cleared out, I saw my chance fast approaching. I wasn't about to let a good moment go to waste.

I walked right up to the long table, still filled with food, and grabbed a plate. It was half full of cookies when the air around me got a bit too thin. "What in the hell is that?" I turned to face the guy who had been studying the food earlier. Turns out he was British. He picked one of the cookies off of my plate, sniffed it curiously, and swallowed it whole. My left eye twitched.

"I was going to eat that."  
"Oh, come off it," he said, "You've got at least twenty more." British Guy licked the chocolate remnants of _my_ cookie off his fingers, savoring the taste. "I'll hand it to you, that was a damn good biscuit."  
"Just like the ones my mother makes," I agreed. He didn't strike me as a friend, but for the sake of diplomacy and whatnot I took another off the tray and handed it to him. Maybe I wouldn't have, maybe I'd have ran him through if he didn't compliment my mom's cooking. He took the cookie with more enthusiasm than the first time. I picked up another, and we tapped the two together. "Cheers," he said with amusement.

"Cheers," I repeated. We both chewed and swallowed.

The dark man with a mean-looking stare eyed us from beside Adam. "Ben, get over here. We're not finished." The British guy- Ben- heaved a sigh. "Been standing around for two bloody hours, and so far I've done nothing but watch the paint dry." Only he didn't use the word _bloody_. I could tell this guy was going to be trouble. Adam gave Ben a look that said they'd talked about this already. Ben retreated to his side, casually strolling along.

"We saw them gathering a few miles off," said the balding man with the big stomach. He had a thick German accent, which sounded about as pleasing as his smile looked. Mercy stayed close to him. "Is that why you came here?"  
"I came to warn you, _liebling_. The Gray Lords received word of what you're doing here. It won't be long before you hear from them."  
"We saw more wolves on our way here, too," said Buffalo Bill. Judging by the Texan drawl, I guessed it was the guy we had sent the Iris message to- the guy with the briefcase must have been the one he asked to tag along (see, I pay attention). Chiron's tail flicked like it always did when he was nervous. "More wolves?"  
"Not like any we've encountered before," said the guy who called Ben over, "they aren't our kind."  
"Found 'em a few miles off from here," Buffalo Bill said, "even in human form, they had patches of fur on 'em and everything."

His compadre chimed in. "Yellow eyes, fangs, and no defined sense of hygiene. Didn't seem like the friendly sort, so we didn't stick around long enough to make their acquaintance."  
"I see," said Chiron. I could tell he was thinking, and whatever was going on in his head didn't look very promising. Adam crossed his arms. "Are these the kind you're used to dealing with? Lycaon and such?"  
"Lycaon has perished," said Chiron with assurance, "and his spirit is not strong enough to reform just yet. No, I do not think these wolves are under his command."  
"But they're of the same species," Mercy guessed. Chiron's silence was answer enough.

There was some more back and forth, but nothing was very concrete. Mostly it was suggested that all campers remain inside the camp boundaries while the wolves scope things out. Before that could happen, some introductions needed to be made. The werewolves were finally given names- Darryl, the dark-skinned second in command, Warren, the third along with his friend Kyle, Ben, the British guy who has a taste for blue cookies, and finally Siebold (pronounced Zee-bolt), or Zee for short- the grumpy looking man who I had a feeling wasn't as fragile as outward appearances suggested. It wasn't long before things got a bit crowded again, so Annabeth and I sat out in the fields with Jason, Piper, Mercy, Adam, Jesse, and Gabriel. We had just been discussing our newest arrival, Tyler, when we got to the part about explaining who- or more accurately, what- we were.

Jesse' ear perked up. "Demigods? Like in those stories they have us reading for class?" I nodded. "That's right."  
"The ones with Hercules and Theseus?"  
"Yep," I said as I chucked a stick, "Annabeth and I have been through the labyrinth. Not a very pleasant experience."  
"And don't get me _started_ on Hercules," Piper said with a roll of her eyes, "If I ever see him again, I'll charmspeak him off a cliff."  
"Wait a minute," said Jesse, holding up her hands in a stop-the-presses motion. "You're telling me you've _met_ him? _The_ Hercules?"  
" _The_ Hercules," said Jason. He held out a dish of fruit for Piper to take. "He's not as great as the legends say, that's for sure. Tried to do us in for going on a quest Hera forced us into. He demanded we steal the remaining horn of this wild bull-man, and threatened to kill us all if we refused or failed."

"That's a bit of a downer," said Mercy.  
"Right?"

Jesse shook her head. "I can't believe this." She turned to her dad, who looked like he wanted to say _Yeah, you're telling me_. "I mean, I know that _you_ exist- I've lived with you my whole life." Then she made a sweeping gesture over the campers. "But this- this world within a world, the monsters and gods and demigod heroes- it's hard to wrap my head around."  
"Try being a demigod sometime," I mumbled as I bit into an apple. This time, I made sure there wasn't a bug on the other end of my bite. Annabeth nudged me. "Don't be rude."  
"What?" I asked, rubbing the place where she whacked my arm, "I mean, we didn't believe it either until some monster decided 'Hey, I think I'll have myself some demigod for dinner.'"  
"I swear to gods, Percy, you really are hopeless."  
"Completely and utterly," agreed Jason.  
"Shut up, Grace."

Everyone laughed.

Jason poked me with the twig he held. We were having a silent contest of who could throw farther before either Annabeth or Piper decided to ruin the fun. "Don't make me zap you," he joked. Jesse's eyes grew wide. "So, you mean you can do other stuff too?"  
I shrugged. "I control water and speak to horses."  
"I can control lightning and fly- well, sort of," said Jason.

"I can charm people into doing things for me," Piper said, "one time, I got someone to give me the keys to a particularly fast rental car." She blushed when all eyes fell on her. That's when Annabeth broke the silence. "I have the laptop of one of the most brilliant minds in the ancient Greek world- probably the most brilliant mind the world's ever known."

"I think you're wrong there," I said with absolute seriousness. Annabeth pushed my arm again, only this time it wasn't as hard. "Yeah, right, Seaweed Brain."  
"I've heard some weird pet names before," said Gabriel, "But _Seaweed Brain_ has to take the cake."  
"Is it blue cake," I asked. There was some more laughter, mixed with odd looks from the people who didn't know me yet. "Well anyway," said Annabeth. She rose to her feet, wiping the dirt from the back of her jeans. "We need to discuss security precautions. I don't like the sound of those other werewolves being this close to camp."  
"Meen either," agreed Piper. I almost forgot that she had met some before, and she probably knew some of the ones nearby. Mercy frowned at Adam. "Where are the others? Shouldn't they be here for this?"

"A couple of brothers offered to give them a tour, I think," Jesse said. Every camper present froze. "What," said Piper, "did they look like?" Our newcomers didn't seem to understand the cause for concern. "Well, they're kind of tall and skinny," said Gabriel, "with brown hair, and-"  
"Did they have sharp features," asked Annabeth, "like a pixie's?"  
"Yeah. Why?"  
I exchanged looks with Annabeth, Jason, and Piper. Well, this was going to be interesting. Adam cocked his head to the side. "Is there a problem?"  
"No," said Annabeth calmly, "there won't be."

Without a word, she marched off to the stand by the volleyball pit. We all followed, mostly to watch the Stoll brothers get what was coming to them. Coincidentally, their tour was coming to a close. Warren and Kyle must have swung by the Artemis cabin, because Kyle was dressed in more weather appropriate clothes (a t-shirt and shorts, nixing the briefcase) and Warren seemed to always stick close by. They paid some attention to whatever the brothers were saying, but for the most part they could see for themselves how cool the place was. Darryl was fixated on the obstacle course, where campers were dodging lava and falling rocks. Ben brought up the rear of the group, caring less about the tour and more about the girls standing some ways off. He caught them staring and waved. The girls went into a giggling frenzy.

Zee had apparently decided to stick around a little while longer. He still looked like someone had spat on his blue cookies, but somehow I felt like he was enjoying himself. Zee didn't show much more than anger and annoyance, but the slight lift of a brow or twitch of his mouth told me that he was very much interested in the Stoll brothers' tour. Annabeth went right up to Connor and Travis, cutting them off and blocking them from the wolves. She held out her hand and said "Hand them over."

The twins feigned confusion. "Why, what do you mean?" asked Travis. "We have lots of stuff," Connor said slyly, "to what are you referring?" Annabeth scoffed.  
"Whatever you took, give them up now and maybe I won't tell Chiron about your secret stash of Nymphs Weekly magazines."  
That seemed to have the desired effect.  
"You wouldn't dare."  
"It's not like that- we only read them for the contest drawings!"

"That's your business," Annabeth said, "but if you want to keep it your business, I suggest you hand over what was stolen." And that was it. Suddenly, Annabeth's hands were filled with two pocket knives, a map of New York, a few rings of house/car keys, three cell phones, and something that looked like a black stub. When everything was handed out to its rightful owner, the tourists looked somewhere between annoyed and surprised. Zee was the only one who smiled in amusement. It was ten times more scary than his scowl. " _Sehr interessant_ ," he mused, "these two hoodlums remind me of my own Tad." I didn't know what a Tad was, but if I had to guess I'd say it was a nickname for a baby frog. Zee turned to Mercy with what I could only assume was an apologetic look- if he were the sort of guy to ever apologize. "I must leave you now, _liebling_. There are things that need to be done. Expect to hear from the others soon."

And with that, he was gone. No popping sounds or magic smoke, he just vanished.

I looked back to see that Connor and Travis hadn't lingered for very long, either. Smart of them. We were about to double back when out of nowhere a shield launched through the air like a disk and was headed straight for me. Without thinking, I jumped over it and spun to land on my feet. The shield embedded itself into the nearest tree. Darryl whistled. "Nice moves, kid."

My 'Thank you' was drowned out by all the yelling. Faster than you could blink,the field was swarmed by Ares campers on one side, Apollo on the other. Piper cupped her hand to her mouth and shouted, "What's going on, Will?"  
"They took our best arrows," cried one of his siblings. He fired into the hilt of a camper's sword, causing it to fly out of his hands.  
"You're gonna pay for that!" screamed an Ares guy. He had narrowly dodged a rhyme arrow, and was charging his attacker head-on with a spear. "Oh yeah," said Ben, "I could get used to this place."  
"Should we stop them?" asked Jesse with concern. Gabriel stepped in front of her to block any arrows and flying debris. Adam didn't look too pleased about it.  
"It's better for everyone if they hash it out here," I said, "they'll get over it in a few hours."

Adam surveyed the campers as they fought. He looked more concerned about his daughter being so close to Gabriel, but he asked "And what of they don't?"

"Over a couple of missing arrows?" Jason laughed. "They can make more, or have the Hephaestus cabin send them upgrades."  
"The fighting should be done by nightfall," Annabeth agreed, "not even the Ares campers are that block-headed."  
"They like to outdo themselves on occasion," Piper observed. I laughed under my breath. None of us really have a deep grudge against the Ares cabin, despite the multiple attempts at battery and humiliation. They were just hard to get along with. Ares is an aggressive god, so it makes sense that his children are aggressors as well. I wondered to myself how long it would take for Tyler to fully join their ranks and be just as stubborn and arrogant as his siblings. Right now he just looked scared, trying to stand some ways off to avoid the fighting, but that's something a lot of newbies go through. Give it a few days, and he'd adjust.

An Apollo camper was thrown from his chariot by an overeager horse, and sent flying straight for a tree. He managed to rotate mid-air, landing a few feet away from a terrified nymph whose home he almost demolished. The kid rolled to the balls of his feet, and continued on foot like nothing happened. For awhile, it was pretty entertaining to watch. Then the fart arrows started coming out, and we had to rush the wolves (whose noses were probably ten times stronger than ours) through the woods and back to breathable air.

The rest of the day was quieter, with the wolves discussing security and divvying out guard watches while the rest of us went about our day. Later that night, Jason and I were about to head for dinner when we were stopped short on the pathway. "Hey, guys?"

Gabriel was coming toward us, looking as lost as ever. In my pocket, my hands clenched into fists. "Dinner's up this way," I said, inclining my head forward. My tone wasn't the friendliest, and I scowled at myself the moment I spoke. Why couldn't I just look him in the eye? From a few feet away, I could hear his footfalls grow silent. "Oh- um, okay." Jason must have seen it, too. He looked down at the wrench in Gabriel's pocket, back up to his face, then up at the night sky. Neither of us wanted to talk. Gabriel got the message. He turned to go back, shoulders slumped and head down, and that's when I started feeling like a horse's behind. It's not like he could help it. Before I had the chance to stop myself, I called out to him. "Hey, man."

He waited for me as I ran a couple paces up to meet him. There was some hope in his eyes when he said, "Yeah?"  
"We're going to hang out at the lake tomorrow, if you want to come. Just after lunch."  
I could tell he was trying to reign in his excitement. "Yeah, cool. See you guys then."

"See you," I said.  
"Later," said Jason, who was standing by me again. Gabriel burst into a jog and headed for the pavilion. As we watched him go, both Jason and I let out the breath we didn't realize we'd been holding. The silence was so thick that when the bushes started rustling, we both jumped out of our skin. Not the most flattering look for two demigod heroes, especially when it was just our girlfriends coming to walk with us. Jason coughed, and I pretended to stretch and recover what was left of my dignity.

"Didn't mean to scare you," said Piper in a way that told me it was completely intentional. Annabeth didn't bother masking her smile. "We were just on our way up for dinner." Piper passed me with a wave and, taking Jason's hand, the two of them were walking. Jason called to me over his shoulder. "I'll see you in a few."

He didn't see me wave him off. "So," said Annabeth. She had that calculating look in her eyes that said _I know your moves even before you make them_. I swallowed. "Want to tell me about it?"

I studied the night sky, acting like I was picking out constellations in my head. "About what?"  
"Why you're avoiding Gabe like he were some kind of mutant."

My head jerked back down. "Gabe?"  
She shrugged unapologetically. "It's a nickname. That's what happens when you get close to people." I didn't like where this was going. "Oh relax, Seaweed Brain- I didn't mean it _that_ way."  
I found myself kicking the dirt, avoiding her eyes. With my luck, she'd be able to read my mind and then I'd really be screwed. "It's nothing," I said. "I'm just hungry is all." I knew I'd get yelled at for it later, but I couldn't help myself. This wasn't something I was ready to talk about. I ran up the way Jason and Piper had gone, leaving my girlfriend in the dust.


	7. Percy Cheats In Every Water Competition

**Mercy:**

"Are you sure you're supposed to be doing that?"

I shaded my eyes with one hand, standing far enough back to where I wouldn't suffer the damages but close enough to where I could see. After lunch Jason and Percy had dressed down to their swim trunks, peering over the edge of the lake at an eel somewhere under the surface. Piper and Annabeth flanked me on either side, wearing shorts over their one-pieces. I wasn't always modest, but for the sake of decency I stuck to wearing jean shorts and a tank top. With some luck, I could get Adam back for the getup he had worn the day we discovered demigods were a thing. "It'll be great," Jason said, "Lightning is my forte, water is Percy's."

Percy clapped his hand over his friend's shoulder blade, standing knee-deep in the water. "What could go wrong?"  
"A lot of things," Piper said under her breath.

Turns out, when they weren't going on quests and slaying monsters, demigod boys were a lot like normal teenagers. Teenagers who had some influence over the elements, but teenagers none the less. By the time Adam came down with Jesse and Gabriel, we had dragged the boys back to shore and were applying aloe vera on their burns. Adam set the blanket down by me. "What happened here?"

"Oh, the usual," said Annabeth as she rubbed a healthy portion of green fluid onto Percy's arm. He winced, but didn't argue. It seemed to be explanation enough. Adam and Jesse began setting up their blankets to sunbathe. He wasn't going in the water, so there wasn't much point in Adam wearing aquatically sound getup; just shorts and a tight-fitting shirt. Werewolves can't swim. They have so much muscle mass that the second they get in deep water, they sink like rocks. It was almost impossible to kill a werewolf, but drowning was a good contender. That's how most suicidal wolves decided to go.

A layer of sand and dirt blew up into the air as Jesse smoothed out her towel.

There was an odd sound coming from the lake, and Gabriel's curiosity got the better of him. He leaned over the edge of the shore, and when he looked up there was terror in his eyes. "There are girls down there!"  
I looked where he pointed. Sure enough, three girls of about fifteen years old were sitting Indian-style at the bottom of the lake, weaving baskets and showing off their necklaces- the same beads I've seen on all the campers, in varying numbers. The girls had seen the whole show with the electric eel, and were laughing at Percy and Jason's expense. When they saw him peer over the side, they smiled and blew kisses at Gabriel, virtually ignoring me. "Don't let them get the better of you," Piper warned from over her boyfriend's shoulder, "they don't have charmspeak, but those water nymphs are huge flirts." Gabriel looked back down. The nymphs gestured to him again.

"Alright," said Jesse as she grabbed him by the collar, "you're done swimming for the day."  
Gabriel furrowed his brows as he was dragged back to the sand dunes, blinking like he had woken from a dream. "But I haven't even-"  
"Done."

"Poor fool," said Darryl from the grassy hillside. His weight was enough to make him slide a bit as he approached, but he quickly recovered. I noticed his shirt was damp from the effort of recently changing back from his wolf form. With him came Warren and Kyle, probably to give a progress report. So far there was nothing suspicious within a mile of the boundaries, they said, so there wasn't much cause for concern if one or two wolves decided to go, give the update, and then come back later. Ben wasn't with them, which probably meant he had decided to stay back for seconds at lunchtime. Or flirt with whatever girl he ran into.

"Gabriel," said Warren, "when a woman tells you you're done, you're done."  
Kyle put his hands on his hips. "And what would you know about dating women?" Within the first thirty minutes of their arrival, Kyle had made it known that his territory was well marked. I hoped I'd never be dumb enough to cross him in a bad mood.

"It's pretty common sense," said Annabeth. She gave Percy a look as the last of the aloe was spread across his arm. "There are certain things you do or don't do, and we always find out the truth in the end." Every girl present gave her partner the _Mhmm_ sideways look. Adam shook his head at Percy. "Someone's in for it."  
"You didn't forget an anniversary, did you," asked Darryl, "there's no coming back from that one."  
"You'll be buying gifts every day for the rest of your life," agreed Adam. I started to roll my eyes, but then I realized he must have been talking about his first wife- who was vacationing on his credit card for the second time this year. And I know Adam would never forget an anniversary- not when he loved doting on his mate.

"Tell me about it," Warren said. When Kyle glared at him, he raised his hands in surrender. "I didn't mean you- there's an old buddy of mine whose girlfriend makes him celebrate her birthday _seven days_ in a row."  
Jason almost toppled over. "He has to _what_?"  
I cringed. Percy held his stomach like someone had punched him, and a couple of the others groaned as well. Personally, I preferred looking after myself- a little gift here and there is something I'll have to deal with, but seven days of being showered with gifts?

I'd have a heart attack.

We started exchanging stories, laughing with (and at) one another and forgetting about life in general. When their burns were sufficiently healed, Percy and Jason were permitted to swim- so long as there weren't any eels in sight. They swam around in the lake, along with Piper and Annabeth, the rest of us talking on the beach. Jesse and I joined in after awhile, jumping from a rope the campers hung from a tree a few years back. Gabriel swan dived into the water, earning some high fives from the boys. Eventually there were splashing contests, but no one wanted to go up against Percy. He became the undisputed champion at everything from swimming to staying underwater the longest (apparently, he could make giant air bubbles. Go figure).

When we came back to shore, I noticed Adam was watching me from the shade of the tree with the rope hanging from it. He was on his best behavior, but I smelled it even from a few yards away. One of the perks of being a coyote walker was being able to pick up on emotion- and I could read Adam's loud and clear.

My wet clothes must have been what was doing it to him.

Percy and Jason decided to get the water out of their hair by shaking their heads back and forth- right by the werewolves. And Kyle, who held his hands out to shield himself. "I've met dogs with better manners," he said. Darryl and Warren didn't seem to mind.  
"Just trying to make you feel included," Percy said.  
Annabeth tried to look sympathetic. "I'm sorry about him."  
"Me too," said Piper as she eyed Jason. He took her by the waist and kissed her cheek when he thought no one was looking.

We were drying off and sunbathing when I felt something stirring. There was some kind of strange magic in the air, pulling back from where we had come. I turned just before everyone else did. The water began to rise in the middle of the lake, forming a rough pillar that didn't take on solid form. From under the waves, I could see that the nymphs had fled the scene, their baskets now forgotten. There was a great gust of air, followed by the sound of seagulls and something much more terrifying that I couldn't identify.

The campers drew their weapons. Adam pulled me behind him, along with Jesse and Gabriel. The pillar started a stone's throw out from the shore, but as it grew in height it drew nearer. When it reached the sand, the water burst open like a clam shell.

Then the waves subsided, and from them came a woman too beautiful to be human or demigod. She was clothed in fabric as blue as the sea, which rippled as she walked even though there was no wind. Near the edges of the dress, the blue faded to white like crashing waves. Her hair was adorned with a crown of shells. She stood, tall and proud, scanning over the group until at last her gaze fell on Percy. She approached him with widespread arms and a warm smile. Even her voice was other-worldly.

"At last we meet, brother."  
Everyone lowered their weapons. Percy blinked once. Twice. "You're- you're my sister?"  
"Born of Poseidon and Amphitrite," she confirmed with a playful look in her eyes, "which makes us half siblings. But siblings just the same."  
"Um," he said carefully, "I don't remember seeing you last time I went to Dad's underwater palace."  
The woman sniffed in disdain. "Yes, well. My full brother, Triton, can only be tolerated in small doses."

"Yeah, I remember that guy," said Percy. He rubbed the back of his neck, and I could smell the unease on him. His newly-discovered sister sensed it, too. She gave him an apologetic smile. "Do not take what he says to heart," she said, "Triton is very proud, and as such his stubbornness tends to get the better of him. Hence the reason I don't visit long or often." She held her palms up. "I hold no ill will toward you or yours."

Percy returned her smile with one of his own. The rest of us were still kind of stunned into silence- she really was beautiful- but now that my mind came back to focus I could see the family resemblance. They both had the same skin tone, the same sea green eyes and dark hair. Hers was worn down to frame her face, falling over her shoulders in smooth cascades. I'm not usually the jealous type, but as a mechanic whose hands are always dirty and face is way more plain, I couldn't help but feel somewhat inferior. I looked like a drowned rat in comparison. A voice from behind broke my moment of reverence.

"And who is this stunning creature?"

Ben walked down the sand dunes, sauntering over to the woman in a way that told me there would be trouble. Teasing the female campers was just something he did for fun- no real interest there. But with this woman, all bets were off. He gave the goddess a slow up-and-down look as he approached, making it clear to anyone with eyes that there was deeper meaning in his stance. The smell of his intentions hit me just about the same time as my husband. From beside me, Adam stiffened. "Ben," he warned. There was no Alpha to his tone, not yet, so Ben took it as a suggestion rather than command. He stopped in front of the woman with a slick smile.

"He's a goner," Darryl said under his breath.  
"Whatever happens," Warren replied in his thick Texan accent, "he deserves it."

The woman, who paid us no mind, looked down her nose at Ben. "I am Ceto. Goddess of storms at sea, master of the great beasts below the waves." As she spoke, a new scent drifted to my nose: fresh saltwater and algae. If I could smell it, the others could, too.

"Oh, yeah," said Darryl, "definitely a goner."  
"Uh, Ben?" said Annabeth. She looked at Ceto like she may be turned into an aquatic animal right there. "You may want to step back a bit."

Ben ignored the blonde underage girl in favor of the raven-haired goddess. "Just getting acquainted with a new face," he said, more to Ceto than anyone else. He leaned in until his lips were a hair's breath from her ear, but he didn't bother whispering. Instead, he lowered his voice into a deep base. "If you'd like, I could arrange for more private introductions." The woman's upper lip curled, revealing a row of pearly-whites.

Percy's wits returned. "Dude, that's my sister!"

"Ben," said Adam, "I'm warning you-"  
"I do not need a man coming to my defense," Ceto replied. With a wave of her hand, seawater sprouted out of thin air and doused the werewolf, knocking him off his feet. When it stopped, Ben was covered in seaweed and other marine plants from head to toe. He looked like a downgraded version of _The Creature From The Black Lagoon_.  
The group burst into fits of laughter, and the apprehension of a fight was broken.

"There," said Ceto with satisfaction, giving Ben the same up-and-down look he gave her. I smiled. Who knew someone else's payback could be so sweet? The goddess waved her hand again in a lazy gesture, but this time nothing happened. "Perhaps that will cool you off."  
While Ben started pulling the algae off himself (slipping once or twice doing so), Ceto put her arm around Percy and steered him away. "I wish to speak with you, brother," she said, "I want to know everything about you." Percy glanced back at Annabeth. She didn't look very happy being left behind. But she didn't have much of a choice- in an instant Percy was gone, leaving her to walk up toward the cabins by herself. "Uh- hey, Annabeth?" I asked. It would be cruel to leave her on her own like this, after some goddess came in to take her boyfriend away. Even if they were brother and sister. The child of Athena turned to me with weary eyes. "Jesse and I were going to go for a walk down the beach- you and Piper want to join us?"

"It would be nice having someone who knows how to avoid being monster food," Jesse agreed, reading into my idea without needing to be told. Annabeth glanced between the two of us, and her expression softened. "Sounds like fun," she said.

We hadn't been out long before the girlfriend talk commenced. Granted, it was a little weird talking about boys in general- if I was being honest, I didn't have many girl friends to talk to- but doing so with my step daughter and a couple of teenage friends was a little awkward. Obviously sex was off the table. We walked along the sand, picking up the occasional seashell or skipping rocks. There was about twenty yards of beach to walk the length of, and we didn't stop until we got to the furthest corner of the lake. Looking out to the horizon, there was nothing but water.

"I just don't get them sometimes," Jesse complained, throwing her hands up in exasperation.  
"One minute they're being romantic and sweet," Annabeth agreed, "and the next you're rubbing aloe on their eel burns." We all laughed.  
"Boys can be pretty stupid like that," I agreed. Especially at their age.  
"It's not just the games they play," said Annabeth. She shook her head. "Last night, I was trying to get Percy to open up, and he bolted."  
"What's that all about?" Jesse wondered.

"Probably the same thing that's been bugging Jason," said Piper. She threw a rock, and we watched it skip across the water's surface three times before sinking. Her friend looked at her with interest. Piper sighed. She plopped down on the sand, reaching up to play with the feather in her hair. A wave of grief hit my nose like a brick. It was the scent of loss. "It's Gabriel," she said sadly. Alarm bells went off in my head.

"What's wrong with Gabriel?"  
"Nothing," Piper said quickly, then she faltered. "It's just...he looks an awful lot like a friend of ours. I mean...a late friend of ours."

The same scent I picked up on Piper now came from Annabeth as well. She sat beside her friend in the sand, staring at the tiny grains below her feet. Together, their grief mingled in the air and spread to Jesse and me in a different sense. We weren't in the picture, exactly- more like outsiders getting a piece of the bigger picture in someone else's life. Our sadness was second-hand; the kind you get watching a loved one suffer from losing someone dear. Annabeth twirled the end of her shoestring around her finger. "The tools, the physical similarities...it all makes sense."

Piper nodded, hugging her knees. It was too soft for the others to pick up, but I heard her whisper "He looks just like Leo."

Jesse looked about as helpless as I did. I knew all too well what it was like to lose a friend. Being able to see ghosts, I had to watch as a deceased pack member followed his widow home every night, fading to a blur with the passing of each day. The pack bonds enabled me to feel it the moment he died. Honey had no idea that Paul still accompanied her, and I didn't have the heart to say anything. And now, all I could do was sit beside my new friends, rubbing Annabeth's shoulder with one hand as Jesse did the same for Piper. When words fail, touch can speak volumes.

"No wonder Percy ran off," Annabeth said. I could tell she was trying to cheer everyone up, or at least change the subject. "Makes me feel a little less angry with him."  
Piper's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Only a little?"  
"Well, he _did_ leave me alone in the dark."  
I nodded solemnly. "A clear violation of boyfriend protocol."  
We laughed, proving that in times of sadness, humor was the best medicine. It gave me the courage to add "I mean, you could have ran into a spider web or something."

Beside me, Annabeth shivered. "That is way more accurate than you know."

The remainder of our walk was silent. Not the awkward kind- everyone was just too wrapped up in their own thoughts to speak. When we got back, the sun was beginning to fall below the horizon. Then the boys came in view close to the pavilion. Annabeth went straight for Percy's arms, hugging his neck as she buried her face in his chest. I probably wasn't supposed to hear, so I ignored it when she said "I miss him, too." Percy looked surprised, then sad as he returned the affection. Jason glanced from his best friend to Piper, who nodded once with a sad smile. _I told her about what you told me._ Jason immediately sobered. _Oh- oh._

When she released him, Annabeth spoke with a little more volume. "So how was family bonding?"  
"Weird," Percy admitted, "I was almost positive I was going to end up seafood for awhile there."  
"Ironic," said Jesse.  
Gabriel came up beside her. "You don't see much of your dad's side?"  
Percy laughed once. "The last time I met extended family, or sort-of-family, it didn't go so well."  
"We managed to get out of it alright," said Jason, "all we had to do was build a shrine for her and promise that people would notice her more."  
"What's her name?" I asked.  
Percy and Jason exchanged looks. Annabeth nudged them both. "Not funny."  
"Okay, okay," said Percy, "her name's Kymopoleia. We just call her Kym."  
"Her shrine sits on the cliff overlooking the sea," added Jason, "it was right above your heads when you went on your walk."

I turned back, but it was getting too dark to see clearly. Even for coyote senses. "So this Kym is like Ceto?"  
Percy shook his head. "I wouldn't say this to Kym, but Ceto is way more powerful. Not only does she control entire oceans, but she's got friends that make Shrimpzilla look like a chew toy."

I paused. "Now you've lost me."

The campers laughed at their inside joke. Let them have their kicks. When they quieted, I wondered aloud where Ceto could have gone. Percy and the others weren't as concerned; this didn't seem to be new to them. "Gods are unpredictable," said Annabeth, "especially sea deities. They don't stay in one place for long- and with the warm welcome Ben gave her, I doubt she'll come back any time soon."

That night, dinner was a bit more crowded than usual. Ben rolled his eyes and made a few comments about how the seats were arranged, but the others didn't seem to mind keeping to one table. It was kind of cute the way Kyle picked out the best meats for Warren, and when his plate got too full Kyle had to pick up the offering and throw it in himself. Throughout our meal, I felt Adam's hand slide across the back of my midriff, and I gave him a light kick under the table. It only furthered his determination. He kissed my cheek, to which I turned away in mock annoyance (even though my stomach felt like it was melting to butter). That's when I noticed the table for cabin two was empty. Annabeth was talking to some of her siblings, but after a minute she caught me looking at her and shook her head. I guess demigods could be as unpredictable as their parents.

Before heading down to the campfire, I decided to run back and grab a blanket from the Artemis cabin. It was nearing the end of the summer, and the nights were growing cold.

Gravel crunched under my feet as I sought out the warm glow through the trees, swaddled like a newborn, when I caught that same whiff of sea breeze I had picked up on Ceto. It carried over the lake, all the way to where I was. Which normally doesn't happen.

Adam wouldn't want me going off into the blue alone, but I wasn't one to follow orders. I picked up my blanket so that it wouldn't drag across the ground, and headed in the direction of the source. I let my nose guide the way, avoiding the tall shapes that could only be trees. Being quiet wasn't a priority- the cicadas screeching and crickets chirping were enough cover. Add the darkness, and I was practically invisible.  
My nose ended up leading me to a cabin at the furthest end of the row, nearest to the lake. Percy was sitting on the stairs outside. He was by himself, but that odd scent still lingered. I knew it wasn't coming from him- his scent was similar, but of a lesser degree. He didn't notice me until I was at the bottom of the steps. "Mind if I join you?"

He looked up at me, shaken out of whatever thought he had been pondering. Percy slid to one side of the steps, giving me room to sit. The general view was better in the back, with the cliff on one side of the lake. At night, all I could see of the front was looming trees. The campfire stood at least a half a mile off.

"Was there someone out here a minute ago," I asked, "I could have sworn I picked something up."  
Percy looked confused, so I explained how coyote senses were keener than humans. He nodded once. "I was talking to my dad. Nothing too specific- he never gets to the point, and leaves before I can make sense of what he says- but yeah. Dad was here."

"Wow." Poseidon was actually here. _The_ Poseidon. Percy noticed my expression and chuckled.  
"Yeah, he's pretty well-known. Mortals have feared him for a long time."

I didn't need a useless degree in history to know that. Poseidon was old and powerful enough to be known in every corner. Even to this day, sailors who were superstitious enough said prayers and paid homage to the god of the sea. He took different forms, but it was all centered around the same guy. Fear was a powerful weapon, even if you haven't used it in a century or two. Hell if I know- a recent hurricane or some other water-related disaster could have easily been his doing. I shivered when a small breeze came. "Has your dad always been like that- all secretive and whatnot?"

"I think so," said Percy. He took out his trusty sword-pen and spun it between his fingers. "I've only seen him a handful of times, so it's hard to tell."  
"Oh."

Immediately I felt like I said something I shouldn't have. Things were getting awkward fast as the silence loomed. At least I thought they were, until Percy half sighed, half laughed. He stopped fidgeting with his pen and leaned back on his elbows. I rested my weight on the balls of me feet, hands linked together. "I never knew who my dad was," he said, "not until I was twelve. When I was a baby, I remember having little glimpses of him. But it was really fuzzy."

I nodded as if I understood what that was like. Growing up, I barely even heard from my mortal parent, much less my father. "Did your mom know?"  
"That my dad was a god? Yeah, she knew." Percy's smile was fond. "That's kind of why he had a thing for her- she was able to see him through the Mist."

The Mist was mentioned before- something about hiding supernatural things from mundanes. Maybe that's why people didn't see Adam in wolf form unless they really looked at him. Since we were on the subject of upbringings, I decided to add some of my own. Percy didn't seem like the type to spill his guts out too often; it'd only be fair to make it even. "My dad was disguised as a rodeo cowboy when he met my mom. His name was Joe Old Coyote-" Percy laughed, so I said- "It's a Native American thing. At the time, my mom was with this guy who turned out to be really abusive." Percy's smile faded, and hardened into something I didn't quite understand. I shrugged it off.

"But Mom was never a pushover. So they're fighting, my four-foot-two mother against a modern-day Goliath, and she's beating the tar out of him. Never believed in fighting fair, my mom. She kicks him below the belt and starts for the trailer to collect her stuff. She didn't see him coming after her from behind. Then my dad swooped in."  
There was little concern in his eyes when Percy asked "Did he kill the guy?"  
"Nah. He knocked him unconscious, though." I smiled as I retold my favorite part of the story. "Then my mom turned on the strange Indian who had saved her. 'You son of a bitch,' she said, 'I have a _gun_. I could have ended him, and everyone would have agreed it was self defense. But you interfered, and now he gets to go off and hurt another girl.'"

"Your mom sounds pretty tough," said Percy with a whistle.

"She is," I agreed, "scared the wits out of my husband a few times, along with the Marrok. Bran says I must have gotten that from her. Anyway, my mom and dad became an item not long after, and before she knew she was pregnant with me, my dad died in a car accident."  
"I'm sorry to hear that." Percy thought for a moment. "Your dad was a coyote shifter too, right?"  
"Kind of." I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "It's really complicated. To put it simply, Joe Old Coyote was like a shell that could think for himself. Coyote was the immortal spirit deep within, separate from Joe, but one with him. His human form died in the wreck, but the immortal beneath the man lived on."

There was a long pause. I braced myself for the questions, prepared to repeat once, maybe two times in different ways of explanation. That's what I usually had to do- for the few people I've told. Joe Old Coyote was still a bit of an enigma, even to me. I think Coyote liked it that way. But Percy just stared out over the trees, his heartrate nice and steady. At last, he looked back to me. "So you're a demigod."

Well, I wasn't expecting that response. "I guess I am."  
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

I flicked a bug off my arm. "My mom eventually married, and they have two daughters that live with them. My dad has at least one other son that I know of. He goes by a different name now, but we've met once or twice."  
Percy nodded. "My mom remarried, too. High school English teacher." He grimaced in mock pain, and we both laughed. "Paul's okay, though. I like him."  
"And then there's your godly siblings." It felt weird to say that- "godly siblings". Not something I say to many people ('Hey, how's your godly sibling doing today?' 'Has your godly parent been around lately? Tell them I said hi!'). Percy shifted his weight.

"Yeah, well. Some of them wouldn't consider me family, not that I blame them." My expression must have been funny, because he started laughing again- but then he quieted down. "I'm the result of an affair. At first, I was kind of annoyed at how some of them treated me. But when I think about it, I can see where they're coming from."  
"People have a hard time adjusting," I said, "I imagine immortals are even worse."

We spent the next hour or so talking about our lives thus far, breaking for questions, comments, and the occasional laugh. It felt good to get some of the things off my chest, and Percy had to have felt the same way because by the end he was less like a demigod forced to leave his mother to save the world and more like a guy getting ready to travel and go to college with his girlfriend. He talked about Annabeth like she put the stars in the sky. If there weren't wedding bells sometime in the future, I'm a werewolf's uncle. Percy and I were so enveloped in our conversation that we almost forgot about the cleaning harpies. Let's just say, by the time I found the right cabin, the hairs on the back of my neck were singed and my feet were killing me.  
I stepped into the Artemis cabin, shutting the door as quietly as I could. Everyone was already asleep.


	8. Bad News Gets Worse

**Percy**

The alarm system Leo had put in months before sprung to life for the first time since our battle with Gaia. We thought it had broken down, because it didn't flinch at any oncoming attack with either the monsters or wolves as they made their way to camp, but something tripped a wire. I was one of the first to make it to the hill, and when I saw what was coming toward me I wanted to vomit.  
Time came to a standstill as I watched my best friend stumble up the slope to what was once Thalia's tree. His hoofs caught in the mud once or twice, and each time he let out a disgruntled bleat and yanked hard on his bushy legs, barely even pausing to catch his breath. Grover has changed a lot in the last year or so. The horns that were once hidden under a mass of curls now curved back and came forward in a point. He had gained some lean muscle in his human half, and judging by the state of his orange t-shirt I could tell he'd been through one Hades of a workout today. And several days before. His fur was coated in blood. I was too far away to tell if it was his or not. Some tree nymphs and other creatures who dared to lurk outside of their homes, though not far from them, pleaded for the satyr to run faster. Annabeth stood beside me, shouting for him along with the others.

" _Grover!"_

I tried to scan the trees, the ground, the air for any sign of a threat, but there was none. No roars or other indications of pursuit. Nothing. I could feel hands trying to pull me back as I crossed over the boundary line, Riptide already uncapped in my hand. But their voices were hazed. I was seeing red, and most of it was clinging to Grover's fur as he tried to run faster. Our eyes locked, and I didn't bother hiding the fury behind mine. Whoever did this was going to pay.  
I made it just in time to catch him before he fell head-first into a rock. There was a sickly smell around him. I forced myself to keep moving. If we stopped then, he may not have made it. Flinging his arm around my neck, I pulled Grover by the waist and carried him up the hill, the crunching leaves and twigs under our feet drowned out by everyone shouting. Grover let out a rattled breath.

"Percy," he said as he stumbled across the boundary line.

Annabeth caught Grover and pulled him into a bear hug. The satyr couldn't do much more than gasp for air while everyone crowded around to see what had happened. Most of them looked shocked. Only a few- from the Ares' cabin- looked stony, unreadable. Behind them came a flash of green that weaved between everyone; Juniper. She was crying chlorophyll tears as she pushed her way through the mass and ran straight for Grover. I had to admit, it was pretty impressive to see someone so small plow through some of these kids like they were dandelions. But Juniper didn't pay them any mind.  
"Grover," she cried through her tears, falling to her knees beside me and Annabeth. "Grover, what's happened?"  
Grover looked so pale. His mouth was moving, but there wasn't any sound. Juniper shook him desperately, despite the Apollo kid behind her gasping in dissatisfaction. "Grover, are you alright? Please talk to me!"  
Just then we could hear words forming in the back of his throat: "Soda cans...back pocket."

That was when I noticed the pack clinging to his shoulders. It was crusted with dried mud, and looked like it could use a wash- or ten. Careful not to disturb him too much, I unzipped the pocket furthest from Grover and took out three cans of various size and shape. One still had droplets of yellow fluid in it- an energy drink.  
Juniper took them from me and began feeding him while Annabeth and Mercy held the satyr steady. The coyote shifter's nose twitched as she took in the scent of his blood. As his senses returned, Grover realized who was holding him and began to shy away from her reach, but he settled when he saw his girlfriend.

"I went to find more… more spirits," he managed to say. Ever since we saw Pan, Grover had made it his personal duty to locate anyone who would preserve nature and assign them with special jobs. He was on call throughout most of the ordeal with the giants and End Of All Days, and it was hard to keep track of him lately. But he always came back, and never this much of a mess. I nodded once in encouragement for him to continue. Juniper stroked his hair as he went on, talking between bites.

"There was a strange scent," Grover dared a glance at Adam before averting his eyes, "so I followed it. There...there were so many of them. I heard some of it, but they caught me, and-" A violent shiver passed over my friend before his head rolled.

"No, no!" cried Juniper.  
"He's alright," Mercy said softly. She put a hand on Juniper's shoulder as she sobbed. "I can hear his heartbeat. It's steady- he's just tired is all."

"We'll take him to the Apollo cabin and alert Chiron," said Annabeth. She looked calm, but her voice was wavering. She made to reach for him, but didn't get more than an inch before Adam stepped between the two and hefted my best friend into his arms. For all the strength this guy had, he was gentle, lifting Grover in a way that wouldn't wake him. Adam carried him over the hill like a soldier helping his comrade through the battlefield, without a word to anyone. Most of the campers were too stunned to say anything.

Mercy didn't seem to be concerned about her husband being so close to his natural prey- now wounded and slung unconscious over his shoulder. I decided to trust her instincts.

The rest of us argued for quite some time.

In minutes the Big House was full to burst with campers, wolves, and spirits alike, all crammed around the ping pong table looking anywhere from scared to angry. Clarisse and I were in the second category. The second Adam reached the bottom of the hill, she surveyed Grover, then the campers that followed, and walked into the house without a word- the first time I've seen her quiet since...well, ever.

Chiron called the cabin leaders in for an immediate meeting while some of the Apollo guys tended to Grover- and he wasn't the only bearer of bad news. Clarisse started by announcing she couldn't find her newest cabin mate, Tyler. He went to wash up the previous night, and has been missing ever since. Things only got worse when the cabin leaders showed up, but the head of the Hestia cabin was missing as well. Megan hadn't been spotted for days, and she was added to the missing person's list right beside Tyler.

"He's a goner," said someone in the back to their neighbor. My fist curled under the table.  
Annabeth looked in the general direction of whoever it was that spoke. "His odds are the same as any of us when we were his age. If he keeps his head, he should make it until we find him."  
Another kid chimed in. "Search and rescue?"  
"No duh," said Clarisse, "I'm not leaving someone behind on my watch."  
"Yeah, how well has that been working out for you lately?"

The head of the Ares cabin was on her feet before the camper could finish, and that shut him up real quick. Someone coughed into their hand. After a few moments of intimidation, Clarisse sat back down. "We have two campers missing, and sightings of wolves in the area." I thought she would glare at Adam and his group, who were scattered in various parts of the room, but instead she went on. "Then goat boy shows up, looking like he took a walk through a minefield- I don't think the last two cases are coincidental." A murmur passed through the crowd. Those sitting at the table shifted in their seats- even Clovis looked like he was nervous. That or he was having a bad dream.

"We don't know what Grover saw," said Annabeth, "it's likely that wolves could still be out there, but until he recovers enough to give us more details we can't know for sure."  
"We need to see what's out there," I insisted, staring down the rest of the cabin leaders. "If we go now we may be able to catch the thing before it gets hold of either of them."  
"You're delusional," Clarisse countered, "What we need to do is stock up our defenses first, get everything straightened out, then we go in for the kill."  
I held her stare. "Since when does the daughter of Ares run from a fight?"  
Her fist curled as she shot me a look that could set someone on fire. "Since when does planning ahead constitute as running?"

" _Constitute,"_ I repeated, rubbing my chin, "I didn't think you knew a word that big, Clarisse." A couple of the campers (and Ben) laughed under their breath. They shut up when she stared them down- all except for Ben, who didn't seem to be as impressed. I was beginning to like this guy.  
"I'm inclined to agree with Clarisse," said Chiron from his place at the head of the table. My head snapped in his direction.  
"Me too," said Annabeth, who raised her hands in surrender when I turned to her. "It doesn't hurt to be prepared. If we just run in blind, it will do more harm than good." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Chiron is one thing, but I haven't seen Annabeth team up with Clarisse against me in a long time. Especially not since the fight with the metal bird woman, and especially not when there were kids out there who needed help.

"Are you kidding me?" I found myself asking, "You saw what happened to Grover! Tyler has no training, no way to defend himself!"

"I did see Grover," Annabeth threw right back, "but if we find out that what we're dealing with is more than the typical monster, anyone who goes out there will be done for! Do you want the same thing- or worse- to happen to more campers?"  
"At least _someone's_ got half a brain to use," Clarisse said. She shot me a smug look that I wanted to punch off her ugly face.  
Chiron at least looked a little more apologetic. "They have a point, Percy. A lot has been happening in the last few days- it's very likely that recent activities may have attracted unwanted attention."

Mercy and Adam exchanged looks with one another.

"Now wait just a bloody minute," Ben said, "if you're insinuating that _we_ brought something here to take out a couple of children, you're sadly mistaken."  
"Wouldn't surprise me," said Clarisse, "there's been more trouble than usual since you showed up."

"Enough, Clarisse." Chiron adjusted the blanket laying on his fake legs. It was too crowded in the Big House for regular meetings, which meant that a full-grown centaur in a room with so many other people would be a huge, horse-butt nightmare. I'd feel sorry for whatever person was standing behind him. I've seen horses before- I know how potty-training works (it doesn't). Chiron sniffed in a way that told me if he did have his horse half, his tail would be flicking. "I do think that immediate confrontation is not in our best interest, but I said nothing about investigation."

Everyone shifted in their seats. Clarisse looked angry again, but Annabeth didn't seem to be all that surprised. It was Piper who said, "It'd help knowing even a little about what's out there." She gave a sidelong look at Rachel, who just shook her head in defeat. "I'm sorry guys, but I've got nothing. It looks like the Oracle doesn't have a prophecy for this one."

"The Oracle has been out of touch lately," said Chiron, reaching over to pat her hand, "it isn't your fault, Rachel."  
"Looks like we have to decide for ourselves," I said. "Who's going, and what are we going to do?"  
"First pick is obvious," said Jason. He nodded toward me with a smile. Nobody disagreed- at first.  
"Of course, you think you're automatically in," said Clarisse. "Who says you get to decide anything?"  
"I'm the one who's pushing for this to happen," I snapped, "while you just sit there with your head up your-"

"Percy," Annabeth warned. I thought I'd set her off again, but Clarisse leaned back in her chair, more calm than usual. It was kind of unsettling.

"On second thought," Clarisse considered, in a tone that reminded me of her dad, "If he gets killed, he's off my case. I don't even have to sharpen my knife, or clean it afterward. I'll personally see him off if I have to."  
"So it is settled," said Chiron, "Percy is the first to be selected." He nodded to himself once, then turned to the place beside mine. "Annabeth?"

"Not this time," she said softly. My heart lurched down to my stomach as she took my hand and gave it a light squeeze. She spoke more to me than anyone else. "I want to make sure Grover is okay."

"We need Annabeth to strategize anyway," Will said. "She's the councillor for the Athena cabin."  
"And the only one who can stay awake or keep from robbing everybody," added Clarisse. She eyed Clovis, whose head was lying in a puddle of his own drool, and the Stoll brothers, who were sizing up the wolves like they were trying to figure out the best time to pick their pockets.

I sighed. With everything Annabeth and I have been through, it was hard letting her go. We fell into the deepest part of the Underworld when I swore we'd be in it together from then on. And if I was being honest, I had started considering what her ring size was, maybe shopping around after some time in college. We had been separated and I was made to forget her almost entirely, and ever since we found each other again she's always been close by. But I couldn't smother her. So I squeezed her hand back and let her go.

I didn't realize how thick the silence had gotten until I broke it. "Okay. So who else?"

"We can help, too," Mercy offered. From beside her, Adam nodded once.

"Now you think you can go on quests with us all of a sudden?" Clarisse said, leaning back in her chair like it was _her_ meeting. Adam stared her down, and for a second I could see the wolf in his eyes. "I've already proven several times that I don't intend to harm any of you," he said, so quietly that I could hear his voice thrumming in the back of his throat. He was growling, I realized. Clarisse noticed it, too. "It would have taken two seconds to kill your friend," Adam went on, "and half of you along with him."

"Jeez, Clarisse," said Piper, "could you cut them some slack already?"

"Adam and I have better connections outside the barrier," said Mercy. I could tell she was trying to prevent anyone from starting a fight that could possibly be the end of us all. "We can pool both our resources to help end this sooner."

Clarisse began to play with the pocket knife she always carried on her. The thing looked twice as grizzly than the time I had seen it, marked with cuts and dark stains. We usually give nicknames to her gadgets, like her spear Lamer and her sword Mud-Sniffer, but I didn't think this one had been named yet. Dirt Picker sounded like a good contender. "Fine," she said after awhile, then she turned her knife on me. "But that doesn't mean Fish Face runs the show. He doesn't have his dynamic duo to go with him this time."

I gritted my teeth and ignored her. Annabeth chose a more reasonable approach.  
"Last I checked, you weren't so fond of the wolves- even after they proved themselves. If they leave, wouldn't that be a good thing? You've never trusted them anyway."  
"I had good reason to question their motives," she said defensively, "they didn't show any sign of being trustworthy until today."

A slight arch in his eyebrow told me Adam was caught off guard by the statement. I caught his eye and shook my head once: that was about as close as an apology from Clarisse that anyone was going to get. Since her boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez, moved back with his family, she's been twice the jerk she usually was. Mostly because she didn't have anyone to talk her down from a fight. Annabeth knew better than to argue with her.

"Percy was the one who vouched for them," Jason pointed out, "he was the one to find them and bring them into camp- along with Annabeth. It makes sense that if Annabeth can't go, they should take her and Grover's place."

"I agree with Mr. Grace," Chiron said, "it appears we have no choice but to send Percy out with Mercy and Adam."

"Okay," Mercy said with determination in her eyes, "so what do we do?"  
"We have to find Tyler," I said, not wanting to think about how worried I was. "He's not skilled enough to fend off anything we find out there. That's priority one."  
"What about Megan?"  
Annabeth answered. "She's stronger than she looks. You have to check in on her at least, but it may not be necessary to haul her back here- not unless you want frogs coming out of your nose."

Mercy and Adam nodded, but their friends looked like they couldn't tell if it was a joke or not. I could practically read his mind as Warren thought, " _Weirdest damn camp I ever did see."_ Poor Kyle was pushed almost into the other room. I'd imagine he'd be the one behind Chiron's horsey backside. I struggled to keep my face neutral as I tacked off our to-do list. "Get Tyler, look for Megan- got it."

"We'll head back in this evening with one or both of the campers and a report on the surrounding area," said Adam. This guy was definitely military. "Mercy and I can take a few wolves and scout the hillsides while your team checks any place we may overlook," said Adam, "if we hit trouble, Mercy can get backup."

"You can't take all of your pack," Jason said, "that would be too many."  
Mercy turned to the other side of the room where the son of Zeus sat. "How many are we allowed?"  
"Three- just three."  
Mercy blinked back her surprise. "That's all?"  
Annabeth nodded gravely. "There's power in numbers," she said, "The last time we took more than what was allowed… let's just say that only three came back in the end."

Mercy read the expression on her face, then mine, and must have decided that it was better not to ask too many details. Annabeth shrugged off the words she couldn't say. "This isn't exactly a 'heavy numbers' kind of thing anyway. You're just going to scope things out, then come back and we'll decide what to do next." Adam and Mercy agreed to the terms- after all, no one wants to tempt fate because we all decided 'screw the rules!'. Even if this wasn't an official quest, we weren't taking any chances.

The three of us were packed and ready in less than thirty minutes. It may sound kind of dumb, since we wouldn't be apart for that long, but I pulled Annabeth aside to have some time to ourselves before going different ways. It's part of being a demigod to wonder about the next time you're going to see someone again.  
We stood in front of my cabin, a bag of ambrosia squares, a change of clothes, and other assorted necessities between us. The sun was now climbing the sky, and around us birds were chirping and nymphs were storing goods away for the coming Autumn.  
I pushed Annabeth's hair out of her face to kiss her forehead. "It'll be alright," I said in a lame attempt to comfort her. Judging by the look on her face, it didn't work. My gut twisted when she looked up at me. "Percy… it's my fault that Tyler ran away."

I paused. "What do you mean?"

Annabeth looked over my shoulder at the other campers some ways off. None of them heard us, I knew, because they were too preoccupied with trying to prepare themselves for whatever was out there. Her eyes were glassy, and starting to fill with tears. "He wanted to hang out with us so much. I knew he didn't mix well with Clarisse and her siblings, but I didn't do anything about it." Her shoulders went slack as I held her. I could hear her voice wobbling as she said. "He went missing the day the wolves came in- right after the Ares cabin had that fight with the Apollo cabin over stolen arrows. I saw him behind a tree, crying like a helpless kid in a world of monsters. I _saw_ him, and I didn't do anything."  
She heaved out a shaky breath, ignoring my hand as I stroked her hair. "Then he ran back toward the Big House. I thought he was going to Chiron or something, but he didn't. And I didn't do a thing to stop him." I held her close. Between Bianca and Thalia, and the countless others, I didn't think Annabeth could stand to lose someone else. Especially someone who looked up to her.  
"Hey," I said. Annabeth didn't move, so I pulled away and lifted her chin so that she had to look me in the eye. Hers were starting to get red and puffy. "We're demigods," I said, "our lives are hard by default, and Tyler's no different than the rest of us. He just needs time to be around more people like him. To show him that he belongs somewhere- I don't think he knows that yet." She was still sniffling, so without a second thought I ripped a piece of my shirt and gave it to her. When she started to reject my offering, I wiped at her tears myself until she took the cloth from me and finished dabbing at them.

"It'll be okay," I repeated, "We'll get him back."

I could tell Annabeth wasn't entirely convinced, but the tears stopped as she took my hand in hers and kissed my palm. I memorized her smell- tea and old book pages- like it was the last thing I had to cling on to.

Before I could change my mind, I grabbed the strap of my bag and heaved it over one shoulder. We held hands the whole way to the camp's borders. By the time my feet stopped moving, Annabeth's eyes were dry and I was the only one who knew she had been crying a few minutes earlier- though Piper could tell something was off by the look on her face. Mercy and Adam were looking up the hill where Peleus was snoozing. Peleus doesn't move around much, so his belly has grown since we first got him. He's like a huge puppy, that may or may not incinerate you depending on how nice you are. I'd have to remember to bring him back a treat if I could.  
Jesse wasn't all that thrilled to hear her dad and stepmom were leaving. She stood close to Gabriel, the two of them frowning as they watched the wolves receive their orders from the alpha werewolf. "...you and Kyle stay inside the borders and discuss security precautions with Chiron. None of the campers go past the dragon."

"Peleus," Mercy offered.  
"Right," said Adam.  
"We aren't as defenseless as you think," Will Solace said. He clutched his shield in one hand and a mean-looking bow in the other (which is something I never thought I'd say, even after finding out who my dad was). Apollo's children were the archery experts, after all, and as their leader Solace had to be handy with it. Adam ignored him and continued with his instructions until his wolves were all given assignments. For the most part, they would be doing extra border patrol when they weren't discussing plans with Chiron and Annabeth.  
"Darryl," said Adam, "you may as well go with them now."

The buff guy named Darryl saw Annabeth and made his way across the lawn. His eyes darted quickly over her, up and down, in a slow once-over. Not the kind scumbag guys give to girls who pass their way- this look was more assessing. Criticizing. It annoyed me, but not much else. By the time Darryl met her eyes again, Annabeth had already figured out his weak points, how much she could push him before he snapped his leash, and what kind of attack he'd use if backed into a corner. I highly doubt this guy could figure her out as quickly- I'm still trying to do that.  
He met her halfway across the field and folded his arms tight to his chest. "You the Athena girl?"  
Annabeth didn't so much as flinch from his stare, and met his with equal evaluation. "That's me. You're Darryl?"  
"Yep." Darryl cocked his head a little, looking more concerned than accusing. "You sure you're up for this?"  
"You'll have to forgive him," Mercy called, "Darryl can't seem to imagine a girl fighting and holding her own."

Darryl snorted.

Annabeth's answer was calm, the kind of voice you hear coming from someone with years of experience. "I can hold my own just fine." The sun caught her hair, and it made the grey streak that she got after being crushed half to death from carrying the weight of the sky. Darryl saw it to, but I doubt he had any clue what it was. He stood there for a second, thinking to himself. I guess it went well, because he shrugged once and the two turned back toward camp. As she passed me, Annabeth took my hand and gave it one more squeeze. And then she was gone.

I didn't turn to look back at her.

As I turned to meet Mercy and Adam, I almost walked right into Jesse's boyfriend head-on, which would have been a great start to my first mission with the alpha wolf and his wife.  
"Here," said Gabriel, holding a metal object out to me. "it may come in handy for you." What he passed off looked like some kind of wrench, with a few more gadgets on it than the standard tool.  
I double-taked. "Oh- uh, thanks."  
"No problem."

My pocket sank under the weight of it, and I tried to look like it would be something I even knew how to use. It seemed to please Gabriel, who went with Jesse and retreated back to where the small band of wolves remained. They kept their emotions hidden pretty well, but something told me they wouldn't budge until their leader was out of range. Adam, always aware of the eyes on him, shouldered his pack and signaled our exit with a grunt. Some girls sighed with their friends, watching Adam bound up the hill. As we crossed over the boundary line, I was confident that we'd had at least one of our missing campers in tow and some idea of what else was going on by sunset.

In less than two hours, we were lost.

To be fair, there was a bit of a slippery downward trek on the far side of the Northern hills, and it looked like the leaves on top of the mud were dry. Long story short, I took one step and the next thing I know I'm sliding on my butt like the noble son of Poseidon I am- and of course Adam tried to grab me before I got too far. That didn't end up working so well, and the alpha of the Columbia Basin Pack comes sledding down on his stomach behind me, arms out to guard his face from passing bushes, sticks, and rocks. The sounds that came out of our mouths were even less dignified. Mercy was still at the top of the hill where we had fallen- probably laughing her butt off at how stupid the two of us looked- but I could hear her coming down after us (at a much slower rate, which told me she was smart enough to watch where she was going). My stop was somehow less graceful than the fall, but I guess it's not the trees fault. I was the one who came crashing into it. Upon impact, I kind of just rested my head against the trunk and wondered how my life had come to this.

Unfortunately, I pondered too long. Because in the next moment the open air at my side was suddenly filled with the massive frame that was Adam's torso. His body had lurched sideways as he slid, at a rate that was too fast for me to react in time. I didn't need the demonstration of how hard werewolf bodies were in human form, but boy did I get one.  
Mercy somehow made it to our side a few seconds after Adam collided with me. There were splotches of mud on her jeans from her run that looked like they were dancing and changing color. I groaned.

"Are you okay?"

It took a second for me to process who she was talking to, and then what it was she had said. I nodded, not wanting to open my mouth and give away how not okay I really was. Adam was on his feet before I could move, brushing off the evidence of our joyride. The sight of him covered in mud and leaves would have been funny, if I could see straight. And if Adam weren't a werewolf. "My bad," was all I could think to say.  
' _Take it one step at a time,'_ I thought, easing myself into a sitting position, then grabbing the bark of the tree to pull myself up. We had to keep going- Tyler was out there somewhere, and so was whatever had gotten to Grover. Gradually, my wits came back enough for me to speak in a complete sentence.

"I thought it was dry," I said as an apology, referring to the ground.

"Don't be sorry," said Mercy, who sounded oddly cheerful considering how off-course we had come. There was a pathway leading to the main road that we agreed to follow around the area for our scouting route. My spontaneous drop led us too far into the woods to find it again. It didn't seem to make a difference to Mercy- or Adam, who looked less annoyed than I thought he would.

"We caught something on the way down," he said.  
My mind was still a bit warped from the fall, and chest-bumping a werewolf at the finale. "Well yeah," I said, "it's in your hair and everything."  
Adam paused from brushing off his clothes. "What? No, not the leaves- there's a scent not far from here. About half a mile."  
"I caught it too," said Mercy. She walked a few paces up, not seeing Adam's hand reaching out to stop her before he thought better of it. By then my senses were coming back, and I noticed that the wind had died, and the birds stopped chirping in the trees. Evening bugs, which would usually be screeching by now, weren't making a peep. I shivered, even though it was mid summer. A few years ago, I had duked it out with Ares. I had won by the skin of my teeth, and he yelled out a curse, saying that when I needed it most my sword would fail me. I have no doubt that my sword failed me the day I met Tartarus in his physical, bodily form. Just one look at him, and I felt Riptide slip between my fingers and hit the ground. That was the only time I ever ran from a fight- a fight that someone else took in my place. Someone who died so that Annabeth and I could live. And even though Riptide was in my pocket, even though I could easily whip it out and start swinging, when the birds stopped chirping and the bugs died off I had the weirdest urge to turn and walk away.

Which meant that we needed to go forward.

Seconds had passed, and Adam and Mercy both had no idea what went through my mind. They were both too busy looking ahead, as if a giant bull or metal bird woman would swoop in any time. Or maybe they both felt the same chill I did, the same small voice telling them to turn back.  
I don't know what I was so afraid of, because we didn't find anything in the next hour.

We followed Mercy and Adam's noses (more so Mercy's, because her senses were sharper in human form than Adam's). At that point I had no idea which direction we were going, only that whoever we were tracking was still the same distance off and that they shifted directions every so often. It didn't seem like it'd be Tyler. A kid his age wouldn't have run so far from the city- if he left, he'd be trying to catch a bus or plane back to wherever he called home. That's what I did when Grover tried telling me I was a demigod, fat load it did me.  
It wasn't long before the sun was at the horizon, and the three of us broke to make camp. "We were supposed to be back by now," I said, arranging leaves to act as a cushion and keep any mud off my pants. I didn't mind getting dirty, but no one wants to wake up with brown stains on their butt.

"We can't go back until Tyler is found, at the very least," Adam said in a low voice. The woods were still too quiet, and none of us wanted to break the silence.  
"Just a little more patience," Mercy added, "there's something out there still, I can smell it."  
Adam sat with his back against a tree, scanning over the area every few minutes. "I can, too."  
This whole super sense of smell was making me feel left out, and it was starting to show. My voice was a little too aggravated when I asked, "Are they still a half a mile off?"  
"More or less," said Mercy, "they haven't moved, so it looks like they've turned in for the night as well."  
I nodded. "So do we take shifts or what?"

It was agreed that Adam would start the first watch, followed by me then Mercy. There was a bit of an argument, because Adam said it'd be best for Mercy to get a full night's sleep so that her nose would be in full working order, but she wasn't having it. With a soft chuckle, Adam said something so quietly I couldn't pick it up. That pretty much signaled the end of the discussion. The last thing I saw before closing my eyes were the stars I had once given a message to for my friend Bob. Then there was darkness.

That night, Ceto appeared to me in my dreams. She was on the banks of the lake outside camp, the folds of her dress waving even though there was no wind. I heard the call of seagulls as I ran to her. I didn't see anything, but for some reason I knew there was trouble close by. "Hey, sis," I called in alarm, "what are you doing?"  
"You cannot defeat him," Ceto said, her eyes dim and lifeless. Her voice was louder than normal, and it echoed in the air and up into the sky. The trees and plants quaked under its weight. I thought I was going to fall over if I listened too long. Ceto's voice continued to echo through the earth. "There is no victory here- not for you."

My first thought was to tell her to be quiet, that she might wake Gaia. Then her expression changed from lifeless to mournful, then enraged and- scared? I tried running faster, but the sand caught from under my feet and made it impossible to move. The wind picked up, whistling past my ear and whipping the sand up into my eyes. The sky grew darker, as if we were about to be caught in a tsunami at the edge of camp. Something growled behind me, and then a mass of grey and black fur bounded over my head and charged straight for my sister. I struggled harder, until my ankles burned from writhing and kicking, but the more I fought the more I sank into the trenches. With a scream and a cut-off growl, both the wolf and Ceto fell dead. There was golden blood on the goddess' neck, and the head of the giant beast was twisted the wrong way. In horror I realized that I had seen this wolf before, only last time he was fighting on the same side as me. A strangled cry tore through my throat as I kicked and fought against the sand, searching my pockets for the pen that was supposed to be there. But there was nothing. I clawed and kicked, but still couldn't move. My eyes fixed on the face of the dead werewolf.

I saw Adam, and then nothing more.


	9. We Take Part In A Ritual

**Mercy**

"I didn't mean to startle you."

It's hard to glare up at a werewolf when you can't look him in the eye for too long. But Percy was trying his damned best as he lay sprawled out on the ground, a wet blanket over his head and an empty coffee mug at his feet. The poor guy accidentally kicked the cup Adam had filled when he woke him, and it went flying. The good news is Adam hadn't put in the coffee grinds yet, and it was only water that had spilled onto Percy's pants. The bad news is, it was really hot water. I scrambled for a towel to mop up what I could, but when I got the old t-shirt out of my bag the water had already dried. Aside from a few red spots on his arm, there wasn't any sign of a spill.

Percy broke his gaze from Adam long enough to catch me staring and smiled despite himself.

"It's a-"  
"Child of Poseidon thing," I finished for him.

Percy nodded before wiping the dirt off himself (something his godlike parent _hadn't_ rendered him immune to), looking less annoyed and more surprised. He wasn't the first to find me somewhat odd, and he wouldn't be the last. People were typically shocked at how quickly I picked things up, but it's in my blood. I am Coyote's daughter, and Coyote adjusted to whatever life threw at him- that is how we survive. After he brushed off what he could, Percy pulled the blanket off to check for burns. If he hadn't met the wrong side of Adam's coffee can, I would have laughed right away at how he danced and chanted "Hot, hot, very hot water!" moments ago. Seeing as he made it out with minimal damage, I allowed myself to give into reflex. Laughter is the best medicine, after all- just ask my friend Samuel.

"Yeah, yeah," Percy grumbled as I clutched my sides, "if you watch long enough, maybe I'll fall off another cliff."  
Adam, who had wasted no time in refilling his cup, took Percy's arm and pulled him to his feet. "Bit of an adrenaline junkie, aren't you?"  
"That's nothing," said Percy, "you should have seen what happened at the Gateway Arch a few years back. Big explosion, rumors about a boy on the run after killing his mother-"

I balked. "That was _you_?"  
Percy turned to grin at me. "So you have heard about some of our antics."

A few years back, I was on break from fixing up cars and was eating lunch in my office in between. There's a small tv sitting in the corner, and usually it's turned off because no one would be able to hear it (which is why the closed captioning has been on since day one). I didn't think about why I turned it on, but when the image on the tv came into view it showed a glimpse of the Arch on the Illinois side of the Mississippi- a column of smoke rising to the sky and jets of flame dancing on the very top of the curved building. In the foreground was a man who used too much of the wrong shade of tanner, with hair too stiff to be real barely moving in the wind.

" _Our sources confirm at least three participants were involved in what you see behind me,"_ he had said. " _All three of them children, ages twelve to fourteen. Eyewitnesses say they saw the young man, pictured here, climbing from the river with a gun in hand, having discarded the case of explosives at the top of the Arch. The suspects fled the scene the moment authorities arrived. If you have any information regarding where to find these three children, you are asked to contact local authorities immediately."_

In the next couple of weeks, the boy and his friends had been found eating in a diner with a man who looked inhumanly fierce. I didn't follow much else of the story, being so busy with work orders and trying to fight monsters with my werewolf husband, Fae friends, and vampire acquaintances- but I did see a few minutes of the interview they did when the boy came out and talked about him and his friends being captured. Then is was forgotten, and personal matters took the forefront of my attention. As the details of the story came back, I leaned against the nearest tree. Percy, a young man who looked far from the scrawny kid I saw on television, gazed at me with eyes too aged to belong to a eighteen-year-old.

"They said you were abducted and forced to do all kinds of stuff," I said.  
Percy laughed once. "That man we were on tv with? That was Ares- the god of war."  
" _The_ Ares?"

The son of Poseidon nodded. "He just wanted us for a job, and was being influenced by-" Whatever he was going to say, Percy thought better of it. His gaze drifted skyward, where some clouds had blotted out the morning sun. This time, there was no thunder- and in the next instant the sky cleared and the sun shone through. Percy cleared his throat, but his voice sounded hoarse when he tacked on the last of his statement. "By someone else." He gave me a sidelong look, then Adam. "Let's just hope we don't come across the god of war with werewolves in our ranks. People get pretty irritated with him around." As he began to gather his belongings, Percy mumbled to himself, "Mortal newscasters- they never get anything right."

"They're not so bad if you know how to manipulate them," said Adam, pausing from his French roast. The steam billowed into his face as he inhaled the fragrance. Percy, still shoving items into the biggest compartment of his bag, looked over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. "You mean like using threats?"  
Adam leaned his back against the trunk of a tree beside mine as he spoke, crossing one ankle in front of the other. "No, not exactly. It's just a matter of controlling what they get ahold of. Making sure you know what they have, and that it can't be used against you."  
I nodded my agreement. "That's how werewolves were able to come out."

"But- I thought you two were married."  
"Come out as in show themselves to the public," I said, giving Percy a soft nudge with my foot, "There was a huge ordeal when the Fae announced themselves to the world, and a few years later the werewolves followed suit."  
I couldn't read the expression on the demigod's face, but it didn't look like he understood. That or he was contemplating pizza again. "Huh."  
Adam and I exchanged a look. "You mean you didn't hear about it on the news?"

The shrug Percy gave us reminded me of a teenager who had forgotten to do an assignment for his least favorite class. "Demigods aren't around technology for long. We don't hear much about anything, other than who's the new president and if there's some kind of natural disaster on the way- and usually we're involved in the latter, so we hear about it first."

"Oh, right." I had forgotten about that.  
"But what about the paper?" asked Adam.  
Percy shouldered his pack and rose to his feet. "Do people still read those?"

Adam's scowl was more playful than intimidating. He turned away from us, motioning with a hand for me to follow. "Come on," he said, "We better get moving, before kiddo here makes me feel like I'm older than I already am." Within two gulps the rest of his coffee was gone. His bag had been lying fully stocked under a bush since early this morning. With one hand, he slid it out from its resting place and had it thrown over his shoulder, single-strap style with one elbow at eye level. It made him look young, about the age he was when he had turned. I didn't need to listen for footsteps to know Percy was right behind us; his sea breeze scent was pretty strong. I could pick it up on a windy day in the opposite direction of airflow.

"How old are you?" Percy ventured, a few feet back.  
Adam looked past me to give him a sly smile. "Older than one, but younger than a hundred."  
Seaweed-Brain or not, Percy was able to pick up on the implication. "So you were recently changed- I mean, within the last century or so."

"More or less," said Adam from his position in front. I think Percy could sense a lot more than what he let on. It's not hard to know that an alpha likes to be in charge, but even the smallest offense can mean dire consequences. It was safest (and smartest) to let Adam take the lead, even if the area was relatively new. For one thing, our noses were more reliable- whoever we were tracking was less than a mile off, and we were closing in by the minute. And another thing was Adam's invulnerability. Werewolves are susceptible to very few things, and with Adam being as close as possible to the threat of danger, if something happened he could put an end to it before anything started. I don't think he realized it yet, but Adam was beginning to feel a sense of protectiveness toward the demigods. That didn't mean he wouldn't have torn the kid a new one if Percy tried to assert himself at the wrong time. "Adam was changed during the war," I offered. "He was an army ranger in World-War Two."

Percy made a noise that suggested admiration. "Impressive."  
"I was one of many," said Adam. He didn't elaborate.

For the next two hours, we tried to be as quiet as possible. We weren't completely sure if what it was we were following was on our side or not, or how much it could hear or smell. Percy and Adam had cleaned themselves off as much as they could after their fall, but there was still a husky scent about them that, if detected, could wind us up in a lot of trouble. Nothing looked familiar to me- which was good because it meant we weren't heading in circles. But at the same time, I felt apprehensive at not having my bearings. Percy, walking behind me with steady strides and heartbeat, was humming to himself.

If he wasn't concerned, maybe I should cool it. But then again….

Birds cawed in the trees around us- none of them looking out of the ordinary. A woodpecker stopped his work to eye us before deciding we weren't a show worth watching, and went right back to hammering away on the bark of an old oak. Some ways off, a fox darted in and out of the shrubs. The woods were teeming with life- unlike yesterday afternoon. I had felt a cold chill make its way up my spine when I noticed that there wasn't a sound coming from anywhere. Adam, sensing my unease, had felt doubly concerned. But today was nothing like that. It was just another summer morning, and the animals were out and about. Part of me wondered how they were affected by the camp full of demigods not three miles away. Before I could give it much thought, Percy cleared his throat.

"So, uh, what's it like in Aspen Creek?"  
"Oh, it's not that different from here," I said, jabbing my thumb in the direction of Camp Half-Blood, "people, places, supernatural monsters who are always causing trouble. The usual."  
Looking back over my shoulder, I saw Percy nodding.  
Adam took my hand to hoist me over the fallen tree trunk rooted in our path. "Currently," he said, "We've got a rogue werewolf, some Fae activity close to several crime scenes, and a hoard of vampires who insist on having Mercy and I for tea."

Adam offered him a hand, but Percy vaulted over the sharp incline with a perfect landing, no assistance needed. When he straightened, Percy's face was serious. "Sounds like you guys have your hands full."  
"You could say that," I mused.  
"When you say vampires," Percy asked, "do you mean the typical blood-sucking, only-come-out-at-night Dracula type? Or the Greek version?"  
"The first one," I said, wondering what the Greek version of a vampire looked like. "I've always said my friend Stefan looks like Superman with oddly impaired morals."  
"Funny," said Percy, "I always thought Jason looked like Superman if he were blonde."  
I thought about it. "You know, now that you mention it I do see the similarities in the two."

Adam stopped so abruptly that I collided with him head-on, having to grab his shoulders to regain my balance. He wheeled around to face us.

"Get in the trees," he said.  
I blinked the dizzy spell out of my eyes. "What?"  
"The trees- now!"

Before I could move, Adam had me by the waist and tossed me up among the branches at the base of the nearest oak. Without thinking, I grabbed the sturdiest limb and held tight, hoisting myself up in a sitting position. Below, I heard Percy's startled "Whoa, dude!" before he was thrown up right by me. I grabbed his arm for good measure, pulling him onto the branch beside mine and pressing as close to the bark as possible. We waited for Adam, but he didn't come. Percy opened his mouth to say something, and was cut off when I clamped my hand over his mouth. My senses were starting to catch up with Adam's: someone, a couple of someones, were very close. It's a wonder they didn't hear us first.

Their footsteps were labored. Something was slowing them down.

I tried to focus on my breathing, making sure it was quiet enough to go without notice. It was harder than I thought, since I wasn't able to see Adam anywhere and all I wanted to do was find him before anything else. He could handle himself, but that didn't mean he had to be alone. Percy tried to remain as still as possible while his human (or sort-of human) ears finally picked up the noises. At the same time, he leaned this way and that in an attempt to see who it was we were hearing. It wasn't working out too well.

I relied on my senses to see what else I could gather. First I caught their smell as it slowly crept to my nose. Then there were footsteps, loud enough for even Percy to hear. And then I saw them, walking a few paces off to my left.

Two men, or male-shaped figures, facing each other with a big leather trunk between them, were making their way down a narrow path that snaked through the woods- left by some hikers, maybe. Or worse. By the look of it, the path was fairly new. The men both wore the same jackets, but there were too many branches in the way to see any stitching or emblems on them. As for the men themselves, their faces were shrouded by hats and sunglasses, making it hard to make out any discernable features. I caught Percy's attention and raised my brows in a silent question. He shook his head: neither of them were known to him, either.

"This damn thing weighs half a ton," complained the first man as he tried to adjust his hands under the box.  
"Watch your six," grunted the other who followed.

They had almost backed into the trunk of a tree, and had to maneuver around it to find the pathway with their feet again. Percy strained his neck trying to see from the opposite side of me. I still couldn't locate Adam, but I figured if I couldn't see him, they couldn't either. They both passed under our tree, the large trunk scraping against the bark as the man in front tripped over a rock. He caught himself, and when his partner let out a string of curses he threw them right back. I felt the impact all the way from up in the branches; whatever was in that box must have been heavy. The men stopped right beneath us to readjust. Percy and I held our breath. The air caught in my lungs as the two men were approached by a third who had appeared out of nowhere. He was tall and covered in thick brown hair in so many places that I wasn't entirely sure he was human. When he spoke, his voice was thick with an accent that almost sounded Russian.

"You have the package?"  
The guy in front grunted, a toothy grimace ripping across his face. Judging by the size of those chompers his dentist must be paid pretty well. "Bagged, wrapped, and done up with a pretty bow. What the hell do you think we're carrying here?"  
The newcomer sneered. "Don't get wise, Stratford. I've had plenty of years to practice- you're just new meat." Stratford didn't argue. He just fixed his grip on the box and waited for his friend to move. The hairy one inspected the other man coming in from behind, and seemed to be satisfied. "Keep it in close. The hot-headed one us he'd have an answer for the boss within the week, and we can't afford any slip ups now."

"There won't be any," the second guy said in defense, finding his courage again. "You'd think I was born yesterday, the way you're fussing over me like my mother."

The hairy one kicked the side of the trunk, making its two holders groan under the added weight. Our tree shook again, almost knocking me off-balance as I crouched on the balls of my feet. Percy gripped me by the shoulder, holding me long enough to steady myself. It didn't go unnoticed. The newcomer froze, sniffing the air once, twice. He mumbled something to himself, and spoke louder to address his comrades. "Shut up and get it in before something happens!"

And with that, they vanished. I didn't see where they left, let alone where they came from. Neither Percy nor I moved. We waited for five minutes, afraid that another group would come to follow. I sniffed the air, listened for a sound- but there was nothing. I didn't even hear Adam until he was at the base of the tree peering up through the branches. "All clear."

Percy and I climbed our way down, landing on the leaves and grass with a soft thud. Percy walked a few paces in the direction that he assumed they went toward.

"Did those men look familiar to you?"  
Adam stared off in the direction he indicated. "No."  
The son of Poseidon didn't look happy. "Meen either."

He uncapped Riptide, speaking before it had finished taking its sword form. "We should take them down before they get too far away."

"That wouldn't be a good idea," said Adam. "If they're expected to be somewhere and don't show up, it could trigger something. There might be a search party- and if they happen to come across two missing campers-"  
"It will put Tyler and Megan in jeopardy," Percy finished. With some reluctance, he took the pen cap and placed it back on the tip of his sword. When it was in pen form, he shoved his fists into his jacket pockets. "Were those guys the ones we've been following?"

"No," I said, "Their scent is different- I don't think I've ever smelled anything like it." In the past I've smelled wet dog before (trust me, bathing a werewolf is something I have vowed never to do again), but this was bad. There was almost a chemical kind of smell to it- but that could have been coming from the strange box they carried with them. And if there were chemicals, that was really bad. Percy walked back to where I stood beside Adam. "What do we do?"

"We need to find the two campers," said Adam, "before someone else does."

We hiked double-time through the woods. At one point we came across an open field that Percy mentioned being in before, back around the time he and his friends had been on the news. He said something about camping out with Annabeth and Grover, and having to apologize to a poodle- and with everything I had seen in the last week, it made sense. Cars came and went on the outer road that connected the city with the rest of New York, its occupants having no clue as to what lay hidden just a mile or so off. I thought about what it must be like as a mundane- no supernatural powers or the worry that comes with it. Not knowing anyone with supernatural powers (or at least not know that you do). That may not last long, at the rate Fae and werewolves were starting to come out in numbers. But for now, humans could live in ignorance and not have to worry. It almost made me envy them.

Nightfall began seeping through the trees, making the woods look more ominous. Below the vast expanse of branches, it grew dark faster than the field we had left behind. At this point I was sure we were going in circles- at least, the person we were tailing was. Then the scent suggested that the person had stopped, because it didn't move as we closed in.

With night came a staggering lack of sound, like the evening before. It was hard to take a step without a twig snapping or leaves crunching under my feet. Even my coyote eyes couldn't adjust fast enough. We walked on for a half hour before evidence of our journey presented itself. I had a hand to Adam's back, Percy's hand on mine, to make a chain in case we lost someone. Flashlights drew attention, so we made due with what we had and did our best to not stumble through the coming night. And then it wasn't so hard to see. Up ahead the darkness was blotted out by a faint light coming through the trees, where a small clearing allowed for a decent-sized fire. There were a cluster of bushes off to one side of the trail we were on. Seeing them, Adam carefully made his way behind the thicket with me and Percy in tow. As we approached the details became clearer, and I could see the light flicker and dance against the stark contrast of the forest's enclosure.

Then I realized it wasn't quiet anymore.

A woman's voice echoed through the woods. It carried across the space between us and the fire in waves, starting out soft and picking up as we came closer. Then the song built, and it sounded like a hundred voices chiming in with perfect harmony, molding into one another as one voice made of many. A familiar metallic tang hit my nose, seeping its way down to my tongue and making me cough. It had been a couple of months since the taste of magic took me by surprise, but there was so much of it here that it was almost suffocating. Sensing magic through scent was strictly a shifter thing- I had gathered that years ago. Adam, though powerful in his own right, couldn't sense it. That's why he eyed me with concern at my sudden outburst. With one hand I waved him off, and with the other I held my nose. His eyes narrowed, but Adam did as I had bade him. The song continued without pause.

The language was foreign, something that none of the history books I've ever picked up- human or otherwise- has ever mentioned. Percy's face was illuminated by the fire, but he looked just as confused and awed as me. Adam, seeing more danger than beauty, was tensed up. He gestured that we move in for a better view, then held a finger to his lips for silence. As if I could bring myself to interrupt such a lovely song.

When the logs on the fire were visible, I saw who it was that had tended to them as she sang, her star-speckled black robes accentuating the paleness of her skin, her hair so dark that it looked purple with the moon's light coming at her back.

Megan didn't pay us any mind. She just kept singing.

The elements appeared to respond to her voice. The wind blew softly as her song ebbed, harder when it flowed into a crescendo. The leaves, though silent as the dead, danced against the breeze and matched pace with the tune. A couple times I could have sworn they had some serious jazz hands going on. Megan's voice was beautiful, don't get me wrong. It just took me by surprise. For all the out-there, heavy metal music I heard coming from her earbuds, she sang like a professional vocalist in an opera. Maybe without the over-the-top bits where it sounded like the singer's vocal chords were having a seizure, but she was definitely talented.

If it weren't for the dark, the dancing trees, and the feeling that Megan was doing more that practicing for a solo career, I might have started tearing up.

Beside me, Adam shifted his weight on the balls of his feet. I could tell he was wanting to move- partly because of his body language and mostly because, as mates, we can sense each other's thoughts and emotions. Werewolf mates seldom fight and almost never separate because they always know what the other needs even before they say it. To a pack, being mated holds more significance than just being married. And right then, our mating bond told me Adam didn't like being so low to the ground when weird things were happening. It was a place of vulnerability. And hiding behind a bush seemed like an act of cowardice- but he was trying to look at it as observing a situation before taking appropriate measures. His voice was steady as it carried over the song. "Do we say something?" In one hand he held my pack, a place for me to toss my clothes in the event that I'd have to shift right away. I didn't notice he had it until now, the bastard. From behind the tree to my right, Percy's voice was barely audible amid the singing. "We were told to check in on her. Looks like she's handling things just fine."

"I'd feel better if we knew she was okay," I said. No way we were going back to Chiron and telling him things were fine just from a glance- especially after our almost run-in with the three hairy stooges. Doing the bare minimum felt like a lie, and lies were something I couldn't stand. There was a pause as the other two caught on to what I was getting at.  
"Which means we have to say hi," Adam guessed. In answer, I stood up so that my face was visible over the hedges, taking my pack from Adam with a little more force than was necessary. I didn't like when he doted on me, and hated it when he took my things from right under my nose. But he was just as stubborn as me. A flash of his cocky smile was all I saw before turning back to Megan.

"Hey there," I called over the noise. In one breath, the singing had stopped and the trees became lifeless. Megan's head snapped up so fast that her hair shrouded her blazing eyes for a second before settling back over her shoulders. The hedges caught on my clothes as I stepped out of the cover of the brush and into the ring of light.

Percy's groan was quiet, but unmistakable: there was no hiding now. He followed my lead, right behind Adam, and the light of the fire illuminated all of us. We looked like kids who had been caught sneaking into the kitchen for late night cookies. I wouldn't have pegged Megan to be the kind of girl who gets flustered a lot, so it was a little bit surprising when she sat there gaping up at us. "How long have you _been_ here? Why did you come? Where-"

"Easy, Goth-girl," Percy said, raising his hands as if to fend her off. "We're just checking in."  
"No one's heard from you in awhile, Chiron's pretty worried," I offered. Beside me, Adam nodded. It must not have been convincing, because Megan snorted. "I always come and go," she said, "Chiron's never been all that worried about it before."  
"That was before you were a cabin leader," said Percy, "Before you were even a camper. Now that more demigods are showing up, we need all of us together to make sure they're properly trained."

The daughter of Hecate leaned back on her palms, giving us a better view of her look of disdain. Or to hide how embarrassed she was. Her vitals told me she was still pretty abashed. "You mean like that scrawny kid from the Ares cabin? Like he would ever talk to me for more than thirty seconds."

The three of us held our breath. "Are you talking about Tyler?" asked Percy.  
I took a step forward. "Did he come by this way?"

Megan looked unconcerned as she leaned forward to tend the fire again. "I thought he was lost, so I gave him directions back to camp. He took one look at me and bolted." She prodded the fire with her stick, causing red flames to jump higher into the air. "He must have listened, because he ran in the right direction."

"Well," Percy said, " you do come off as kind of...intimidating."  
The poker stopped moving. Megan's eyes shifted from the flames to him with a calm stare- the kind Bran gave right before he ripped your throat out. "You think I scare people off?"

Then the brave Percy Jackson said, "No. Not at all. It was just something I've heard people say- not me, though."

Adam put his hands on his hips, ever the parental figure. "What are you doing out here?"  
"It looks like you're trying to summon the dead," I conceded.  
"That's Nico's line of work," said Megan, "And not that it's any of your business, but I have to talk to my mother."  
Percy got his wits back. "Does she always require a musical number before showing up?"

Megan looked at him again, and Percy stopped smiling. "It's an honorary thing. Hecate is all about magic and crossroads- so what better place to perform my greeting than here?"

I looked down at the fire, and noticed for the first time that it stood directly on a pathway that met three different trails. "I guess that makes sense."  
Adam still wasn't convinced. "It would be better if you came back with us. We'll wait until you're finished, but we need to get at least one of our campers back."  
"It would go faster if I had help." She considered me and Adam. "Hecate favors dogs...you may not fit the description to the 't,' but wolves are technically the first dog." Megan shrugged a shoulder. "She may see it as a good throwback, if nothing else. It would be better if you shifted, though."

The idea didn't seem too appealing. I caught sight of Adam's body twitch ever so slightly. "So she can come bounding up to scratch under my ear?" I noticed he wasn't saying who "she" was, and thought that perhaps that wasn't such a bad idea. Megan rolled her eyes.

"So you can sense her coming. It'd be easier if you were in wolf form, right?"  
"I can do that," I said. "Adam needs a few minutes to fully shift, though."  
Megan shrugged again. "I've been sitting out here for days. A few more minutes isn't going to kill me."

She leaned forward again and crossed her legs, looking up at us expectantly. None of us kept her waiting long. Adam must have been feeling well, because in five minutes his giant grey paws padded against the soft ground and he sat across from the daughter of Hecate. Percy flanked him on the left, and I took my place on Adam's right in coyote form.

"It's quiet here," Percy said in an attempt to break the dead silence.  
Megan didn't look up from the flames. "I needed to be able to hear better when invoking my mother, so I cast a small spell that cancels out any background noise." The flames sank a little, urging Megan to poke the logs with her long stick until they were risen to their previous height. She let out a bitter laugh. "Mom likes to be subtle."

As she talked, she spread the contents of her bag out on the purple cloth before her: cloves of garlic, a few sprigs of lavender, and a jar of honey. I couldn't see what it was she held in her hands, but as she lay her palms upward a dark object shone in each one against the light of the fire. Megan closed her eyes, humming in the back of her throat. A minute passed. Two minutes. Percy's throat bobbed as he waited for something to happen. Adam's ears swivelled to the sides every so often. Then Megan began to speak. "Hecate, goddess of the crossroads, favorer of night and the moon, I summon thee with offerings to honor you. Give me guidance when I am lost. Grant me sight when I am blind. Surround me in your darkness so that I may bring forth my light."

I looked beyond the fire for a sign that Hecate had heard her daughter's call. The air became twice as thick as the silence dragged on. Percy, the most impatient, fidgeted in his seat. As it got darker outside of our ring, I began to feel bad for making him take part in all of this. Suddenly his head snapped to the side, his eyes full of alarm. "Something moved over there."

Megan looked, but shook her head in disappointment. "I didn't feel anything- did either of you?"  
Both Adam and I deliberately shook our heads as well.  
"If you want to look, feel free," said Megan.  
Percy swallowed hard. "You mean you aren't going to check?"  
The daughter of Hecate turned back to her fire. "If I move from this spot, the summoning will be disrupted. I'll have to wait another day to call her."  
"Can't you just send her an Iris-message?"

"Hecate doesn't respond to such lazy attempts at communication- you have to show your respect before she even considers talking to you." With that, Megan resumed her stance, palms upward, eyes closed. She released a long breath and didn't move. If she could see me, she might have glowered at the way I cocked my head at her. I've met witches before- in some circles, mine and Adam's included, witches were a sub-form of Fae. Some liked us enough to speak with us on occasion, but all of them were aloof and secretive. I imagine the queen of witches wasn't much different, which is why it didn't come as a surprise when several minutes had passed before anything happened. Unfortunately, it wasn't Hecate that had made us all jump- it was Percy. The kid had a knack for getting hurt, way beyond what even I could do. As he whipped his hand back from the fire, Percy waved it in a frantic spasm, blowing out short, sharp breaths as he hopped around. Once again, Megan found herself interrupted. "What are you _doing_?"

"I was putting small twigs in," Percy said with offense, "it caught fire too close to my hand."  
"Here," Megan scoffed, tossing him a vial from within her pocket.  
Percy caught it with his good hand. "What will it do?"  
"Relax, it's just witch hazel. It helps with burns."

By then I was in human form again, my clothes thrown on haphazardly as I dug around in our bag for the first aid kit to retrieve the compress strips that Annabeth had stacked in numbers at the back pocket- the most easily accessible place to get them. Dousing a compress in full-strength witch hazel, I pressed the bandage lightly to the red splotches on Percy's hand. He winced, but didn't complain.

"I don't get it," said Megan sharply, "This was supposed to work by now!" She threw her own bag aside, burying her head in her hands. "This needs to be done tonight...I can't wait any longer."  
The sudden change from arrogant to distressful made me want to help her even more- but how? I didn't know what business she had with Hecate, or what I could do, if anything, to make it easier. What Megan needed was her mother, another demigod unable to see their parent. "Was there something missing?" I asked in an attempt to calm her.

Megan began throwing things back into her bag. "Everything is here- I made the proper offering, I meditated to empty my mind- I even had three guests!" She waved a hand at us and looked at me like I was supposed to understand. When I didn't respond, Megan went back to her belongings. "Biggest waste of my time- knew she wouldn't answer."

"Maybe we can try it from a different angle."

Glasses clinked as they were tossed into the bag and thrown over Megan's shoulder. She waved me off with a hand. "You can keep the witch hazel," she said, ignoring my suggestion. "I haven't had need of it since I made the batch."

"But you have to come back with us," said Percy, "there are people out here who look like trouble."  
"Nothing I haven't faced before."  
Percy shot forward. "Megan, wait-"

The moment he touched her, Megan flinched as if she had been struck. Her hand flew back, whipping out of Percy's reach so fast we all blinked in surprise. Her eyes were wild, like an animal who had been cornered by three predators. Percy tried to say something, but Megan's glare was ten times worse than the other looks she gave him. She got in is face, speaking in short, clipped words.

"Don't- _ever-_ touch me."

As she stood, the ceremony came to a close. Leaves rustled and bugs chirped, the noise so abrupt that it made me flinch. With no chance of summoning her mother, Megan threw on her pack and started making her way over the hill- in the opposite direction of camp. "Don't bother," she snapped as we tried to come after her, "I have things to do and places to be."

"What about Tyler?" I called after her.  
"The boy you seek is where he needs to be."

And then she was gone. When we turned back to the fire, it wasn't there anymore. There were no bottles, no smoke- not even a trace of footprints. There was just Megan's dark, golden scent, now growing faint like it had gone cold three days ago, and the fading tinge of magic went with it. Adam needed a few more minutes to change back into human form, and then we were all standing by the place where the fire had been with sleeping areas made for the night.

" _The boy you seek is where he needs to be_ ," Percy recited, fluffing his sleeping bag with more force than was necessary. "What does that even mean?"  
Adam settled in beside me. "Hopefully it means he's back at camp."  
"So we basically came out here for nothing," said Percy.  
"I wouldn't say that," I said slowly, "at least we have something to report to Chiron."  
"And we did make sure that Megan is safe," Adam offered.  
Percy huffed into the blankets beneath him. "Yeah, well. Let's get back before anything else can happen."


End file.
